Four State Titles for San Antonio Schools

TAPPS and UIL each held their cross country State Championships this past week and four San Antonio area schools took home team titles and five individuals nabbed titles in a fantastic week of performances.

At the TAPPS meet, San Antonio Christian and Antonian won the 5A and 6A Boys Divisions, respectively. Adrian Rule (San Antonio Christian) took the 5A boys title in 16:17.00 while Wells Peterson (TMI) was the 6A boys champ in 16:06.25 and Antonian's Micaela Villarreal was the 6A girls champion in 11:35.70 for the 2-mile course.

The UIL meet saw the Lytle boys win their second 3A title in three years while the Smithson Valley girls dominated the 5A meet with just 54 points. Sophia Bendet (Randolph) capped off a brilliant cross country career with a second straight 3A title after winning the race by 40 seconds in 10:40.5 for the 2-mile race. Elizabeth Leachman (Boerne Champion) answered all questions about her fitness level by cranking out the final half of the 5A girls race to win by nearly a minute in 17:14.8 for a second straight title.

Beginning with the biggest results of the week, Antonian nearly pulled off a double State title. The boys had all five of their scoring runners finish among the first 16 runners and tallied a total of 48 points to win. John Boland was their top finisher taking second place in 16:15.61 and he was followed quickly by Jonavon Lott (8^th), Luke Wurzbach (10^th), Channing Shaeffer (12^th) and Thomas McLin (16^th). The Antonian girls came in second place even though Villarreal won in 11:35.70 and Alexandra Johnson was second in 11:37.85. Eleanor Legault added a 17^th place finish for the squad.

The rest of the TAPPS 6A meet featured a TMI boys squad that finished on the podium in third place. Peterson led the way with a winning time of 16:06.25 and Ethan Garza TMI finished in third place. Central Catholic finished in fifth place as a team and had two runners, Marcus Cecconi and Sergio Martinez, finish in the top 25. In the girls race, TMI's Carolina Meneses TMI and Olivia Talley were top 25 finishers for their 10^th place team. Incarnate Word finished one place behind TMI and were led by Olivia Lopez in 28^th place.

San Antonio Christian nearly matched Antonian with their performance at the TAPPS 5A level. Their boys took the team title with 50 points. All five of their runners finished in the top 25 and Adrian Rule (1^st), Nathan Womack (4^th) and Christian Tarver (8^th) were all top 10 honorees. Their girls team finished in third place out of 25 teams and had three runners finish in the top 20; Margaret Hunter (10^th), Jill Hilliard (15^th) and Victoria Carvajal (17^th).

Saint Mary's Hall had a strong performance in both races with their boys finishing in fifth place and the girls finished in sixth place. Park Higdon led the boys with his 28^th place finish and they had three runners in the top 40. Ellie Scott was their top finisher on the girls side taking 19^th place.

At the UIL 3A meet, the Lytle boys picked up their third State title since 2013 and now have eight podium finishes since 2009. They jumped out to the early lead and never looked back as they led the team scoring at the 1-mile and 2-mile marks before winning with 68 points. Johnny Rey Alvarez capped off his season with an eighth-place finish in 16:10.0 while Lucas Salazar (16^th) and Diego Reyna (24^th) were close behind him. Overall, they posted a 1-5 split of 1:04 and they took the title by 36 points.

Great Hearts Northern Oaks, the reigning 3A champion, finished a strong fourth place. Krish Vijayvergia led the team with his 19^th place finish in 16:41.1. Brayden Salzwedel and Joshua Mounts each finished in the top 35. In addition, local individuals Cooper Warrick of Stockdale and Ilias Braxton of San Antonio Cole ran well and took home top 25 honors.

In the penultimate race of the UIL competition, the UIL girls 5A race, the San Antonio area shined bright. Not only did Elizabeth Leachman earn redemption for her Regional performance, the Smithson Valley Rangers won the program's first ever State title with a superb performance. Leachman ran a different type of race than she normally does. Instead of sprinting out to the lead, she took her time to move up to the front. She was in second place at the 1-mile mark in 5:26.8 and was content to sit there for another half mile before moving into the lead for good. She clocked a 5:35.9 second mile and then was 30 seconds faster than anyone else on the course for the final 1.1 miles which she covered in 6:12.1.

Smithson Valley took a similar approach to Leachman. They were in second place at the mile mark, but then surged forward over the next 2.1 miles leaving no one else a chance and they ended up defeating Lucas Lovejoy, winner of the past three State titles, by 43 points. SV's top runner was freshman Brady Solansky who proved to be tough as nails, or in this case, gravel. Solansky lost one of her shoes in the first half mile and had to run over the top of the dam, which is covered in gravel, without it. It nearly caused her to quit at the 1-mile mark, but after hearing some encouragement from her coach, Trenton Hall, she soldiered on and moved up from ninth at the first mile to third and closing at the finish line. She posted a time of 18:10.5 in the process.

Solansky's teammates were no slouches with all five scoring runners finishing in the top 20. Lilly Koenig went from 23^rd at the mile mark to 10^th at the finish, Skyler Fonseca went from 30^th to 18^th and Aubrey Pozzi was back in 55^th before cruising in for 20^th place. Senior Mia Perez ran more of an even race and finished 19^th.

Boerne Champion finished in seventh place, just 26 points out of a podium spot. Kynley Albright had a great race and took 16^th place for them. Running as an individual, Savanah Moya of New Braunfels ran near the front the entire race and took fifth place in 18:15.6.

In the small school TAPPS Divisions there were not a lot of local teams competing. There were three boys teams in the 1A group with Universal City First Baptist Academy having the most success finishing in fourth place. Ayden Bendele led the way with a ninth-place finish while Levi Alaniz of Legacy Christian Academy also finished in the top 20. Only five teams total competed for the girls 1A crown and First Baptist Academy finished in third place as Alex Witt and Brianna Hall each finished in the top 20. Tatum North of Ambleside of Fredericksburg was the top local with a seventh-place finish. Emma Lane of San Antonio Antonement finished as the overall runner-up in the girls 2A division with a time of 13:23.60 for the 2-mile race.

TAPPS 4A had 25 boys teams and 17 girls teams competing. John Paul II edged out Geneva of Boerne to be the top local boys team finishing in eighth place. Thomas Spencer of Castle Hills was the top local finisher taking 10^th place in 18:04.47. John Paul II was led by Robin Bugarin's top 25 finish.

John Paul II was also the top local girls team with a seventh-place finish. Ryan Traeger and Laci Reifenberg each finished in the top 30 for the team. Savannah Parker of Castle Hills led the local contingent with a 22^nd place finish in 14:11.38.

In the UIL 1A and 2A meets there were only a total of eight local runners competing. The San Antonio Stacey boys qualified as a team at the 2A level and finished in 14^th place. Zach Born was a top 25 finisher after crossing the line in 17:22.8. Utopia's Taylor Wiekamp was an individual qualifier in the 1A boys race and he took 48^th place overall.

In the UIL 3A girls race history was made with Sophia Bendet breaking the 3A State meet record with a time of 10:40.5. She was a little over a second away from the all-time 2-mile State meet performance that was set in 2004 by Erin Bedell of Plano West at the 5A level. Bendet took the lead early and never looked back. She was 10 seconds in front at the mile mark which she hit in 4:51.1 and she expanded her lead over the second mile. Her teammate, Aubrey Milam, joined her on the podium with a third-place finish in 11:21.8.

Poth had the best local team performance taking fourth place with 171 points. Brooklyn Albert was their top runner taking sixth place while Katelyn Poth and Rylee Ellis also finished in the top 40. Juliet Alcott of Great Hearts Northern Oaks just missed the top 10 with an 11^th place finish and Katherine Zinnante led her Cole squad to ninth place with her top 20 individual performance.

At the 4A level, there were five local teams competing. The Davenport boys finished in 10^th place to finish as the top local squad on that side. Elijah Bliss led the team with a 10^th place finish in 15:54.8. Kaden Cypert of Floresville was the top freshman in the race taking 19^th place in 16:19.88.

In the 4A girls, both Davenport and Fredericksburg competed well. The Wolves finished in fifth place, just six points out of fourth and Fredericksburg took sixth place. Rilyn Grona of Fredericksburg was the top individual taking fourth place in 11:23.5 while moving up four places in the last mile, a result that many locals would try to emulate. La Vernia's Katie Dallas went from 35^th to 19^th over the final mile to crack the top 20.

Kendall Fallon led Davenport with a time of 12:12.8 and her sister, Macie Fallon, climbed 16 places in the second mile to finish three seconds back in 36^th place. Caitlyn Long (11 places) and Audrey Orgill (24 places) also made big second mile moves to propel the Wolves into fourth place. Fredericksburg moved up three places as a team in the final mile.

The 5A boys race had six runners from the town of Boerne finish in the top 40. Charlie Houck of Boerne Champion was the top local taking fourth place in 15:41.9 while teammate Luis Tovar took 16^th. The Boerne Greyhounds, moving up from 4A last year where they finished third in the State, had four runners finish between 28^th and 37^th place. The 8.7s split of Aaron Garcia, Valor Menn, Barrett Crofut and Carsten Bain propelled them to a runner-up finish as a team. Boerne Champion had to settle for a quality fifth place team finish.

The Johnson boys and girls made the biggest impact at the 6A level of any local teams. Their boys finished in ninth place after sitting in 14^th place at the 2-mile mark. Michael Repper-Molina was their top finisher in 16:06.8. Their girls finally were ranked heading into the State meet and they finished a quality seventh place with their young squad. Isabella Porter ended up being the top local finisher in 20^th with a time of 18:30.2. Emily Krot also finished in the top 30.