Region 4-2A Girls
There are several girls back from 2023 who performed really well all season long, at the regional championships, and at the state meet.
Emily Bartek (Goldthwaite) is the defending 4-2A champion. The junior battled the competition and the conditions to win in 12:56 before going on to the state meet to run 12:10 for eighth place.
Payten McGee (Goldthwaite) made it a Goldthwaite 1-2 finish last year in Corpus with her 12:59 run. She went on to place 16th at state with a run of 12:23 as just a freshman.
McGee and Bartek were the only girls to run under 13-minutes in the race.
Johnson City LBJ was represented by Jackie Earley who was just a couple of hundredths of a second behind Keller in 13:01. She went on to place 20th at state with a time of 12:30.
The fifth best returner from last year's race is Peyton Sigsbee (Burton). The senior was ninth last year in 13:12.
Based on the season rankings, those five girls have the top five performances of the year entering Monday's race.
Keller is the season leader at 12:00, Earley is the second best with her 12:26, Sigsbee also has a 12:26 on the year, and the Goldthwaite girls Bartek and McGee have run 12:31 and 12:34.
Also adding solid times at 3,200m this season are:
Kaycei Salazar (La Villa) - 12:20
Brooke Hopkins (Mumford) - 12:22
Kate Hopkins (Mumford) - 12:37
Goldthwaite won the regional team title last year with 54 points over Mason who was second ahead of Stockdale (now 3A) by two points. Falls City beat Johnson City LBJ for the fourth state meet qualifying position on the sixth man breaking the two way tie.
Goldthwaite is the only ranked team in the region heading into Monday as they sit at No. 2 behind Region 2s Hamilton; that's how they finished at the state meet going 1-2.
With Bartek and McGee leading the way, they can run a 13:12 team average and they have their 1-4 runners running right around a 60-second gap.
Mumford runs around 13:35, and Skidmore-Tynan, Mason, Thorndale, and Schulenburg are right under 14-minutes.
Region 4-2A Boys
The top three boys from last year's race and frankly the top guys in the region for a couple of years are gone.
Alan Baez Corpus (Ganado), Taylor Warrick (Stockdale), and William Carlough (Port Aransas) went 1, 2, 3 and finished well at state with Stockdale third and Carlough 10th. Well, they all graduated.
Shane Stawar (Port Aransas) is the top finisher. he was fourth last year as a freshman. Calixto Valencia (Junction) was also in the top ten last year with his seventh place finish.
Cooper looks to be picking up where his brother left off. He has the top time of the region going into the championships with his 16:16 mark.
Stawar isn't far off with his 16:17 season best mark.
A little bit further back at 16:37 is Antonio Perez (Johnson City LBJ), Eric Yanez (San Saba) at 16:46, Valencia at 16:48, and Caden Klingelhefer (Mason) with a 16:52 is the last person under 17-minutes.
Port Aransas won last year's regional championships with a 76 point total ahead of Mumford's 85. Stockdale (now in 3A)was only three points back at 98 and Premont was good for the last state meet qualifying spot in fourth.
Port Aransas is the No. 4 ranked team in the state and the only team in the region who is ranked. They also finished fourth at the state meet last year, and they have to want to at least jump up a spot to get on the awards podium.
They have the best team average on the season at 17:22. Stawar leads the way with their No. 2 50+ seconds back. Their 3-5 runner seem to be fairly close, which helps their success.
Johnson City LBJ has the second best team average in the region. Their 17:38 is positive. Perez is their low stick runner, but is't their 2-5 runners who work to stay close. At their best, the four guys run with in 13-seconds of one another.
Mason has the third best average at 17:49 and Premont has the fourth at 17:52.
There is not a lot of distinguishable distance between some of those teams, so it could be another close and exciting 2-4A boys race in Corpus.