Boerne Champion girls and a Leander runner compete at the 2024 Region 4-5A Championships
2024 UIL Cross Country State Championships
November 1-2, 2024
This cross country season, I was reminded how much of a team sport cross country truly is. This is an exceptional sport; not just because of the love and enjoyment of running. It is also because of the lessons it teaches you, the personal accountability it forces you take, and the bonds you form with teammates who become your friends and family.
Heading into the weekend, there are two cases that brought that into focus that I'd like to share with you.
Elizabeth Leachman is one of the best distance runners in the country. In fact, with the accomplishments she had last year during the cross country season, that alone has her as one of the best all-time distance runners in US high school history.
However, those accomplishments were all individual.
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Leachman and the Boerne Champion girls along with Gage Horejsi and the Leander boys organically created the examples of what this sport is all about.
The best runner in the nation failed to qualify for the UIL 5A Cross Country State Championships. She did not finish (DNF) due to her having to drop out of the Region 4-5A Championship race in Corpus Christi this last week.
Leachman had some mid race complications that caused her to drop out of the race. Her inability to cross the finish line meant she was disqualified from advancing individually. The reigning and defending state champion faced being eliminated.
However, Champion qualified out of the district round to the Regional Championships as a team entry. So just as long as they had five runners finish the race to be scored, they were in contention to advance to the state meet. With Leachman having to pull out, they still had six other girls who could score for them.
Thanks to Kynley Albright, Rebecca Bezerra, Addison Graham, Luciana Zazueta Ibarra, Payton Kidder, and Madison Mungia, Champion finished third overall in the team standings. Since the top four performing teams at each region advance to state, Boerne Champion advanced, allowing Leachman the opportunity to compete in Round Rock at the UIL 5A state championships after all and defend her state title.
Winning an individual championship is an individual accomplishment and is still an option for her at the upcoming state meet. For Leachman, whether she wins or not, the opportunity wouldn't have been possible if not for her teammates and their amazing effort.
For Leander senior Gage Horejsi, the story was a little different, but the foundation was still the same.
Entering the 2024 season, Horejsi had never advanced to the UIL State Cross Country Championships.
He was determined to do all he could to qualify in his final season as a high school runner.
So, he put in the time, effort, and ran the mileage in the hot and humid Central Texas summer months.
At the beginning of the year, Horejsi ran a 15:52 in his first meet of the season. He then ran 15:59, and 15:54 in the two meets that followed.
Horejsi was a top ten finisher in every meet and it appeared that his hard work and dedication to the sport was going to pay off.
He saw his dream of qualifying for state inching closer to becoming a reality.
"I'm only here because my amazing team was able to move us up as a team. I literally would not be here without them."
Gage Horejsi, Leander High School
The cross country championship season had arrived. Now, every race was a consequential race. He had to qualify to advance through the rounds or his season would be over.
The first step of qualifying arrived with the UIL 5A - District 25. After the race began, Horejsi started to feel differently than he normally does during competitions.
He realized he was having an asthma attack in the middle of the race. His dream of qualifying for the state meet was dwindling and the summer mileage efforts were possibly going down the drain.
Despite having an asthma attack during the race, Horejsi managed to finish. However, it wasn't the finish he had become accustomed to this season.
After not finishing over sixth place at the large invitational races, Horejsi was only able to finish the district race in 40th place with a tie of 18-minutes. That would be over two minutes slower than any of his other races throughout the season.
Fortunately for Horejsi, he was able to rely on his team. Even though he is the number one runner on the team and only finished as the number seven runner at district, Leander was able to advance which helped keep Horejsi's dream alive.
Malik Dekli, Stephan Montez, Aaron Varghese, Alexander Marquez, Evyn Catton, and Jacob Valdez carried the team to the district championship. That gave Horejsi new life and the opportunity to race with the team at regionals.
Unfortunately, at the Region 4 Championships, Leander finished in fifth place as a team which was outside of the four qualifying positions.
On a bright note for Leander, Horejsi went on to finish in third place and qualified for the state meet.
It was an opportunity he wouldn't have had if not for his teammates."I'm only here because my amazing team was able to move us up as a team. They are the best people I know, they're my closest friends. I literally would not be here without them," Horejsi said.
