Every week we will bring you members of either the freshman and sophomore classes who are having a good season and who we believe might become leaders or stars in the sport

Freshman Girls Rankings I Freshman Boys Rankings

Texas Future Stars Edition I : Elin Latta And Ruel Newberry

Tomorrow is right around the corner, but the future is already here and we are getting a glimpse of it with the future runners who will be the next to take the helm.

In the mid 1980s (well before any of the competitors were born), when the band Timbuk3 released their only significant mainstream hit, "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades."

That is how I feel about the several members of the 2027 and 2028 class of distance runners.

Below are six girls and six boys who have already shown the propensity to take over the state of Texas with their abilities and talents.

Girls Future Stars

Coach Ray Baca is no stranger to infusing new and young talent into his Canyon program. Despite being a just a 4A school, Baca and his staff have helped develop a pipeline from their middle school ranks that transitions well to the high school level.

Morris is a class of 2027 and looks to be a transfer from nearby Happy and looks to be fitting in well with the team. She ran a personal best 11:47 two-mile at the McNeil Invitational.

Sophia Barraza (El Paso Franklin)

Barraza is just a freshman, but she is right on time for El Paso Franklin. For a program looking to extend its state meet qualifying streak out of Region 1-6A, quality youth is important.

Barraza looks to be rounding out into that runner. She is in the top seven and her last two races have been at two of the most competitive meets in the state and all she did was run personal bests of 18:48 and 19:44.

Mickey Cahill (The Woodlands)

Cahill is at a well-known program at The Woodlands that graduated some good talent. The freshman is taking the right steps from the McCullough Middle School feeder to the Highlanders level.

She has 19:02 and 19:38 performances this season at 5,000m. Last week, she turned in a 17:28 three-mile run at the Woodbridge Cross Country Classic.

Reese Massey (Marble Falls)

Massey is another freshman hitting the ground running and doing it fast. The Marble Falls youngster has three quality two-mile races, 12:33 and 12:46 that were before her 11:57 PR from last weekend's McNeil Inv.

With two individual wins and a seventh place finish at McNeil, Massey is a real competitor.

Reese Bartos (Waxahachie)

Bartow is enjoying a good start to her freshman season. She already has three sub 19-minute runs on the season. She started the year off with a 18:41 at the Waxahachie Woodhouse Invitational, followed that up with a 18:38 PR at the Southlake #1 XC Invite, and just dropped a 18:59 at the McNeil Invitational.

She had really good runs at the middle school level and it has transitioned very well to the varsity level.

Skyler Fonseca (Smithson Valley)

Last week, we highlighted a different Smithson Valley freshman, and now Fonseca has made herself undeniably recognizable herself.

Her best performance is a 19:02 from last week at McNeil, but it is closely followed by 19:15 and 19:16 runs. Smithson Valley has solid podium chances because of Fonseca and their other young talent.