The 2024 McNeil Invitational was one heck of a billow.
What was thought to be a continuation of blazing fast performances that we've seen this 2024 cross country season in Texas didn't reach the pattern we've grown accustomed to.
Chalk it up to the surprising level of difficulty of the course, the weather, the later than normal start, or anything else you want to give credit to that may have kept the boys race from being what many competitors and spectators thought was coming.
I was for sure the barrage of sub 15-minute performances would be continued with the results of this race. I was also confident that with all of the ranked teams competing against one another
So what has to happen?
Well, coaches, athletes and teams just need to take a page out of Taylor Swift's book and just "Shake It Off".
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So, what did go as expected?
Well, there were individual girls who did run well. Sophia Bendet (Randolph) didn't seem to have any problems with the course as she dropped a gem of a race with her 17:10 win
In the same race, it was freshman Elin Latta (South Texas Heat Homeschool) who continues to race impressively and improve week-by-week. Her 17:23 was another time drop as we watch her continue to inch towards sub 17-minutes.
While it wasn't quite like her two fastest races on the season, Maya Easterwood (Coppell) still ran fast with her 17:37 and Savanah Moya (New Braunfels) also dipped under 18:00 with her 17:55 finish. Jamie Klander (Katy Mayde Creek) was able to get another sub 18-minute performance with her 17:58 run.
On day one, in the 4A girls race it was Addyson Bristow (Canyon) getting a 11:19 win and Kenli Atwood (Holliday) in 11:27 who were able to distance themselves from the rest of the field.
In the 1-3A girls race, both Cara Sims (Elysian Fields) and Brooklyn Albert (Poth) were both able to dip under 12-minutes with their 11:33 and 11:54 runs.
As far as the impressive team runs on the girls side, the Canyon and Holliday girls looked good.
Canyon won the 4A girls race with a 11:51 team average and only a 57-second spread. Holliday's 12:09 average is one of the best from a 3A team this year while only having a 60-second spread.
The Smithson Valley girls were also impressive this weekend. With four freshmen in their top seven, they won the girls Gold race going for a 19:07 team average. Not only did they creep closer to running under 19-minutes, they ran very tight with a 46-second gap.
Aledo was second with a 19:22 team average adn got two big runs from their number one and two finishers.
On the boys side of things, Austin Vandegrift delivered a race that was on par to their consistent season. They won the Gold race with a 15:38 average and 1:01 spread.
Hudson Haley (Vandegrift) got the individual win running around Old Settlers Park going for a 15:05 top performance.
The Gold boys race did give us a look at most of the top 5A programs in the state. Boerne Champion did finish third overall and got big runs up front from their top two runners.
McAllen, Weslaco East, Grapevine, and Friendswood gave us a look at how ferocius the race for the podium at state is going to be.
2024 McNeil Inv. Boys Gold Race
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What wasn't quite up to expectations?
The Gold girls race had a lot of fantastic teams like El Paso Franklin, Highland Park, Kingwood, Marcus, Keller and Vandegrift just to name a few are all teams who have either ran well at this park before or have been on a tear already this season. Not many ran close to their season best performances.
The anticipation of the many ranked boys teams assembled in the same race was supposed to set the stage for an outstanding pre-state meet invitational.
However, not only was there just one team to run under a 15-minute average race, but there was only one boys team average under 16:30 in the Gold race.
With the performances we've seen from teams like Round Rock, McKinney Boyd, Weslaco East, Keller, Marcus, Waxahachie, Coppell etc., excitement was through the roof. Six of those teams have the capability to run under 16-minute averages. On this day, they were all far from having their best day.
Cross country is an ebb and flow type sport. Nobody really runs better than their previous race every time out. However, it was a bit eerie that there were many who didn't excel on this day.
So, all is left to do is pick up the pieces, move on, shake it off, and get ready for the next race.