UIL State Meet Preview

UIL 4A Girls

Chances To Win Individual Title

The reigning defending state champion Addyson Bristow (Canyon) is entering the state meet after having a bombastic season.

She is undefeated on the year with a 10:32 personal best a 11:08 at the Region 1-4A Championships. Bristow also ran a 11:19 to win the McNeil Invitational earlier in the year.

Last year's state meet runner-up Nayomi Granados (Randall) was second at Region 1 in 11:11. Her teammate Brooke French was the third place finisher at the state meet last year and was third at Region 1.

Freshman Emily Gross (Dumas) was fourth at Region 1 with a time of 11:40. She has been tussling with Bristow, Granados, and French all season long.

Region 2 champion Giselle Alejandro (Henderson) won with a time of 11:22. 

There are several other girls from Region 2-4A who will be front runners at state. Tatum Cross (Celina) was third in 11:45, Abigail Kelley (Lindale) was fourth in 11:52, Edith Martinez (Sulphur Springs) placed fifth in 11:58, and Trista Etheridge (Mabank) 11:59 were all under 12-minutes.

McCall Boyd (Salado) won Region 3 with a time of 11:45. The freshman will get a chance to join an elite field and race it out for a state title.

Fellow Region 3-4A top finishers Jayla Fish (Lorena) was runner-up with a time of 11:49 and Adison Richard (Hamshire-Fannett) was third with a time of 11:51.

The changes to the Region 4 course may have the course a little long. Rilyn Grona (Fredericksburg) ran 12:16 to win with Bianca Bosquez (Robstown) finishing runner-up in 12:33.

Grona finished eighth last year at the state meet and Garcia was ninth. Look for both to contend for the state title.

Chances To Win Team Title

As mentioned above, the Region 4 course might have been a little long. So, stats will be a little difficult to analogize if the course was indeed long.

Davenport won the team title with La Feria tieing them with a 13:25 team average. No. 6 ranked Davenport has a 1:12 spread and La Feria had a 1:29 spread. Last year's runner-up team and No. 8 ranked Fredericksburg was third at Region 4. They had a 13:34 average and a 1:14 gap.

The third place finisher at last year's state meet and No. 3 ranked Salado won Region 3 with a 12:24 average and only a 55-second spread.

They were followed by Huffman Hargrave who ran 12:54 with a 1:20 spread, and Lorena ran a 12:59 average with a 1:37 spread.

Celina and Sanger will be tough teams to beat as well. No. 9 ranked Celina won Region 2 with a 12:22 team average and a 1:01 spread. Sanger, ranked No. 5 in the state went for a 12:43 average with a 1:13 spread.

Three of the top four ranked teams in the state are all coming out of Region 1. 

The No. 1 ranked Canyon girls ran a 11:59 team average with a 1:26 gap. The defending state champions and No. 2 ranked Randall girls also ran a 11:59 average with a gap of 1:33.  Then , No. 4 ranked Dumas ran a 12:39 average at Region 1 and No. 7 ranked Brownwood  went 12:56 with a gap of 1:06.

As usual, there are several quality 4A girls teams, but only three podium spots and only one can be the champion.

I think Celina, Dumas, and Saldo will be very good, but this race should come down between the two Canyon ISD schools.