El Paso Eastwood poses for a photo at the 2023 UIL XC state meet
We're going to jump right back into our midseason rankings in the 6A boys division. The first part of this ranking which came out on Tuesday, details the top-five teams in the state as of mid-September.
Austin Vandegrift came in at the number one spot while Southlake Carroll was second, Bridgeland was third, The Woodlands was fourth, and Northwest Nelson rounded out the top five.
Today we're gonna cover teams 6-10 and see who has the potential to move up the field along with the work they've done so far. Let's not waste any time and dive right back into the 6A boys midseason rankings.
6. El Paso Eastwood (Preseason Rank: Unranked)
Making preseason rankings has never been the easiest task as you're often stuck making assumptions about who can improve and by how much. Naturally, when there's not a lot to go on, it can be difficult to choose between teams, and sometimes talented groups can get left out. That's exactly what happened to El Paso Eastwood in my preseason rankings as they got caught up amongst several other talented teams and slipped through the cracks. However, Eastwood has looked more than worthy of a solid ranking this year which is why they come in a No. 6.
As expected, Aidan Torres has returned to be one of the top runners in the state. He opened his season at the Canutillo XC Invitational where he set a new personal best of 14:40.61 and won the race. He followed this up with another sub-15 performance at the Twilight XC Invitational where he ran 14:59.71 to finish second overall. Torres came into the season ranked as the 4th best individual runner in the 6A division and he's lived up to that hype so far.
Outside of Torres, Eastwood has gotten so much-needed support from their depth to start the year. Noah Loweree opened up the season in 15:18.18 while Marcos Madrid ran 15:30.57 to hold down the number three spot. Luke Cruz and Job DeSantos rounded out the top five in 15:31.03 and 15:44.81 to give Eastwood a formidable lineup to start the year. Their times are undoubtedly fast, but I would like to see Eastwood test themselves on some harder courses. It'd be interesting to see what they'd run at somewhere like Lovejoy, but they've proven they're one of the state's best teams through their efforts, regardless of the courses they've competed on.
El Paso Eastwood currently holds a team average of 15:21.04 and a 64-second split.
7. Round Rock (Preseason Rank: No. 6)
Round Rock came through the midway point of the 2024 season having maintained the form that's kept them successful over the last half-decade. No matter what, this Round Rock program continues to produce solid teams that can regularly compete for a spot at the state meet and this year has been no different. I expected them to be a top-eight or so team coming into the year and that's exactly the form they've maintained thanks to a tight-knit squad that succeeds by scoring points in the heart of the field.
Coming into the 2024 season, Round Rock was going to have to cope with the loss of standout senior Kebede Kerlin. Losing your top guys is always a hard thing to deal with, but it also provides an opportunity for others to step up and that's exactly what's happened with this team. They don't have a true definitive number one, but sophomore Andrew Esparza and freshman Leo Brasil have taken the reigns of this team so far. Esparza has been a consistent performer at the front, holding a season-best of 15:35.00 while Brasil has been right beside him with a season-best of 15:36.00. These two have provided not only great performances for the team but also an injection of youth that gives the program more optimism for the coming years.
Outside of Esparza and Brasil, Raffael Giesen Linssen and Landon Fluckiger have also scored key points with seasonal bests of 15:45.00 and 15:46.00. Judsen Massey, a key contributor from last year's team rounds out the top five in 16:08.00. It will be hard for this team to finish anywhere higher than second in Region IV, but they have the potential to sneak by some teams at the state meet, much like College Park did last year. They run extremely close together and they've held their own at some big meets like the Marcus Coach T Invitational and the McNeil Invitational.
Round Rock currently holds a team average of 15:46.00 and a 33-second split.
8. College Park (Preseason Rank: No. 4)
College Park came into the season on a high thanks to their surprise fifth-place finish at last year's UIL State Championship. The Cavaliers hadn't been predicted to finish anywhere near that spot, however, they finished in the right spots when it mattered and came away with a huge result. I expected them to come into this season and show us that form out of the gate, however, it's been a confusing season for College Park so far as they've yet to run all of their guys together which makes their results difficult to interpret.
It's well known that Camden Gibson is the leader of his team, as the standout junior has proven to be a force to be reckoned with since his freshman year in 2022. And while he may be more well known for his exploits on the track, he's still an elite talent on the grass as evidenced by his 9th place finish at the state meet last year. Confusingly, we've only seen Gibson compete once this season and that came at the College Park XC Invitational which was a 4000m. Gibson won the race by six seconds in a time of 12:19.00, but that's all we've seen of him so far this year.
As for the rest of the team, we've gotten a look at some of their depth at different meets. Their projected second runner Yannick Broos finished sixth at the Texas A&M Invitational in 16:03.00, but that's all we've seen of him so far this year. They finished second at the Texas A&M Invitational without Gibson, although they were 129 points behind Bridgeland so it's unclear how much of an impact he would've had on that gap.
Ultimately, it's still hard to get a grip on where College Park is at. We know at their peak that they're a top team in the state, they've just yet to show us that this year which is slightly concerning.
9. Coppell (Preseason Rank: No. 8)
Coppell came into the 2024 season in a similar situation to Round Rock, that being that they're a consistently solid team that always has a chance to make the state meet. Although the fact they compete in Region I may make this task more difficult, they've still proven to be a team you always have to consider will make an appearance in Round Rock. I expected them to be in the hunt to make it out of Region I and they look to be in an ideal spot heading into the second half of the season.
Historically, it doesn't feel like Coppell has been a team that's thrived on having a definitive number-one runner. However, that's changed this year as senior Pranav Vegiraju has asserted himself as the leader of this team. He had an incredibly hot start to the year by running 14:59.90 at the Waxahachie Woodhouse Invitational to start the year. He then followed this up by running 15:02.00 for 8th place at the stacked Marcus Coach T Invitational. Most recently, Vegiraju finished 14th at the Lovejoy XC Fall Festival in 15:43.10. He's provided this team with a low stick that should help them greatly in their quest to get back to Round Rock and he should continue producing solid performances over the second half of the season.
Outside of Vegiraju, Coppell has had some guys produce solid performances. Rohit Kalpathy has held down the second spot with a season-best of 15:45.40 while Grant O'Neal has also been under the 16:00 barrier with a time of 15:54.30. Srivanth Rudrangi and Jayden Benjamin round out the top five in 16:03.90 and 16:12.60 respectively and give Coppell one of their faster lineups in recent years. It's ultimately all going to come down to regionals for this team, but they look to be in a good position to make the state meet if things continue to go their way.
Coppell currently holds a team average of 15:47.22 and a 73-second split.
10. Katy Tompkins (Preseason Rank: Unranked)
Katy Tompkins was a team that I had no idea where they'd be heading into 2024. They've been such a mainstay in the 6A division over the last decade, but the amount of talent they lost was very concerning for their hopes this year. They lost two top 25 finishers from the state meet, and on top of that, the rest of their team was relatively unproven. However, despite my worries for this team, they've proven to be a prime example of the difference between a good team and a good program. Good teams have to rebuild, but good programs reload and that's exactly what Tompkins has done this year.
While this year's teams may not produce times that jump off the page, their results against some of the state's best show a team that's going to be in the fight once the state meet rolls around. Tompkins started their season at the Seven Lakes Showcase Invitational where they took home an easy victory with 67 points. Next, they competed at the tough Brenham Hillacious Invitational where they finished third behind Bridgeland and The Woodlands. Although they finished third, they were only 27 points off The Woodlands in a large field which signaled to me that this team was better than originally believed. Most recently, Tompkins took on the test that is the McNeil Invitational and they came away with a great second-place finish ahead of teams like Round Rock, Boerne Champion, and San Antonio Reagan.
On the individual side, Carter Maloy has the fastest time of the year so far in the form of a 16:00.00 which came at the Seven Lakes Showcase Invitational. Diego Reyes and Mathias Pitzel complete a strong trio for the Falcons up front with times of 16:03.10 and 16:04.00 respectively. Again, while this team may not have times that jump off the page, they've gone head-to-head with four of the other top-ten teams in the state and have come out well in these outings. This team has the potential to win Region III again despite their losses and they're a real sleeper team to watch for.
Katy Tompkins currently holds a team average of 16:17.44 and a 45-second split.