Region 2-1A Girls
The Region 2-1A girls race has shaped up to be a good one. There are several top 10 individual girls coming back from last year's state meet in this region, which that alone will make this an interesting meet.
Jace Chisum (Jayton) was the state meet runner-up. Lilly Benson (Roby) was seventh in Round Rock last year, Danni Ruiz (Menard), was eighth, and Hailie Cauthen (Clyde Eula) finished ninth.
The lead pack could have several girls in the mix until late in the race.
Cauthen has the best regional performance this season with her 12:01 from the Ballinger Invitational and she has a 12:14 in the 3,200m.
Benson has good times on record with her 12:11 in the the two-mile and 12:12 3,200m season best.
Chisum has the only sub 12-minute performance this year with her 11:52 3,200m run, but she also checks in with one of the top two mile times with a 12:19.
Ruiz, who had a great track season last year has a SB 12:11 3,200m run this year, but only has a 12:31 two-mile. I don't think that is reflective of her fitness or talent.
I'd also keep an eye on Kinley Cummings (Blackwell) who has a 12:16 race this season.
The girls team race features the state meet championship team and runner-up both coming from this region....oh yeah a couple of teams who enter ranked in the state.
Clyde Eula is ranked No. 2, Roby is No. 5, Jayton is No. 6, Garden City No. 8, and No. 10 Blackwell.
Roby won the title in 2023, but they graduated their top two runners and a third in their top seven. Second place finishers Jayton graduated three runners including their No. 2-3 runners.
According to our records, it's actually Clyde Eula who has the fastest team average this year at 13:02. After Cauthen, it's their No. 2-7 runners all capable of finishing with in 54-seconds. They didn't graduate a single runner from last year's fifth place finish at state.
Garden City has the second best team average with their 13:49. Emy Schwartz and Sadie Fuchs both lead this squad up front, but the top five combine for only a 58-second gap time.
Roby has good chances of getting back to Round Rock despite their massive graduation losses. The biggest factor for them will be where their fifth runner finishes.
Mertzon Irion County has the fourth best team average with a 14:15 average and Buena Vista looks to make this year their chance to return to the state meet. At their best, they can run nearly with a 50-second gap.
Lastly, Jayton and Blackwell have shots at pusing for one of the qualifying spots. Beyond Chisum, Jayton's girls are a bit further back, but when the hit the finish line, the do come in fairly close to one another and Blackwell isn't ranked for no reason and they return all seven girls from their eighth place state meet finish last year.
Region 2-1A Boys
Jayton junior Sean Stanaland is the top returner from last year's state meet. He ran 17:20 for an 11th place finish and will be big for his team's aspirations.
However, it's Luke Smith (Valentine) who looks to have made some big strides from last year. The senior has a 16:34 PR on record to give him the regional pole position ahead of Camden Lummus' (Roby) 16:35.
We talked about one Jayton runner and here is another with Griff Reel who has a 16:37 run this year to finish fifth at the Hamlin Invitational behind Lummus.
As a team, it has looked like Jayton has been ramping up for another state meet battle with Slidell. They only graduated one runner in 2024 and have quite the squad with Reel and Stanalan, but Zech Mosley and Tucker Scott have been huge so far this year as well.
The West Brook boys didn't have a great run at state last year, and they bring back five of their top seven. They have a 19:23 team average, but a 3:22 gap time will leave them susceptible to having other teams pass them up on the back end. Nevertheless it'll be tough to keep them from heading back to Round Rock.