Taking A Second Look At The UIL 6A State Meet

Macy Wingard and Maya Easterwood approach the mile marker at the 2024 UIL 6A state meet

Photo Credit: Jan Smits

At first glance, I went through the results and talked about what I saw in the results from the UIL 6A girls and boys races. After several days have passed, I had the chance to look at things a little more in depth and got a little clarity of how things went down.

Here are some things I took note of from the 2024 UIL 6A Cross Country State Championships. Some of these thoughts and observations have already been intimated, but are significant enough to repeat. Some came after more thought and review.

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Denton Braswell junior Macy Wingard ended her UIL season with an undefeated record and as a back-to-back title winner. She started off the state meet race with a 5:09 first mile followed by a 5:30 split to come through 2/3rds of the way in 10:39. Her winning time was 17:07, just shy of her 16:44 PR, but 10-seconds faster than her 17:17 win from last year.

Lily Fawcett, Bridgeland's senior star began to shine brighter this year and especially in the championship season. Her 17:32 run was a personal best and heped her capture the second place finish. 

Maya Easterwood (Coppell) was able to get on the awards podium this year and it was the top three podium. Her third place finish was thanks to a 17:36 run. Easterwood ran 17:37 lat month at the McNeil Invitational on this exact same course.

The only surprise was the distance between Wingard and Easterwood. Easterwood's other four races against Wingard were all within 5, 7, and two 8-second races. This one was nearly a 20-second deviation. 

Of the top ten runners, seven were from Region 1, which is mostly viewed as the strongest region. Region 2 had two of the other top finishers with the Bridgeland duo and runner-up Fawcett. 

The lone top ten finisher who wasn't from Regions 1 or 2 was Meredith Wolfe (Round Rock). The senior ran one of the most even split races throughout the 5,000m distance. Her first mile was 5:36 and she followed that up in 5:47. Her final 1,800m were in 6:37 to bring her through in 18:01. 

As far as the team results, it was Flower Mound adding to their legacy and current dynasty. Coach Cook and his Jags won their fifth consecutive UIL 6A team title. The front work was done by their "A Team" Adeline Bennett (17:43), Alexandra Fox (17:44), and Ava Cole (18:00). They placed fourth, fifth, and sixth overall to only tally nine points through three runners with Keira Primer (18:34) and Liana Cluley-Garza (19:01) closing out the scoring.

It was never really a doubt that Flower Mound would capture the win, and the battle would be for second.

After winning the Region 2 title, Bridgeland was complacent and ran to accomplish even more coming out with the state meet-runner up finish. It was the best effort and finish in their short program history. Coach Kennedy has guided Bridgeland from day one and this is one of the best outputs his many talented teams have produced.

The Bears ran a 18:27 team average with a 1:44 gap time. Senior leader and Colorado State commit, Lily Fawcett has been on a roll lately and moved up each mile until she finished runner-up. Rowan Saacke managed an eighth place finish to give them two top ten places.

Katy was another team using their regional championship groove and momentum at the state meet. Victoria Guerrero was able to run to a top 15 placement thanks to a 18:37 run. However, it was the rest of Coach Darcey's squad who sealed the deal.

The two through five runners secured the win with their tight pack. The gap between them was only 10-seconds giving them an overall spread of 35-seconds and a quick 19:01 team average. 

That was too much for NW Nelson and The Woodlands to overcome and get on the podium.

Caden Leonard and Benjamin Montgomery race down the final 1,000m of the 2024 boys state championships

Photo Credit: Jan Smits

Caden Leonard (Southlake Carroll) won his second straight UIL 6A individual title; he beat an exceptional field, winning over Region 2 champ Benjamin Montgomery (Bridgeland) and Region 4 champ Gavin Chapa (San Antonio Reagan).

All four of Leonard's races this year have been completed under 15-minutes and he was the only runner in the field to go under the barrier in this race, specifically.

In the race, it was a lead group of about 15 runners going through the mile between 4:42 and 4:45. That group narrowed to six runners who went through two miles from 9:30- 9:33. Leonard executed a surge with about 1K to go that was unmatched by the other runners.

Montgomery jumped one spot up from his third place finish in 2023 to runner-up this year. His 15:01 run was the second best of the season and the third best run of his career.

Aleksandr Acuna (Denton Braswell) was the third place finisher. After a sixth place finish last year, he moved up the podium to the top podium. It was a consistent season for Acuna who was sixth in his first race of the year with a 15:00 which was the lowest he'd finish all year. His first mile split was 4:44; he then ran 4:48 in the second mile and moved from 15th place to seventh. He continued to move in the final stages up the third with a 5:30 final 1,800m.

Chapa finished fourth with a time of 15:06, six positions better than his 2023 finish. Denton Guyer freshman Ruel Newberry sixth in 15:09. He is the fastest performing freshman in UIL state meet history.

The team race was as epic as expected.

Carroll came in as the defending champion and having won the past five consecutive 6A titles. They were looking for a school record sixth consecutive titles, having won five in a row before; a sixth consecutive title would put them in elite company as only two other schools have won more six or more consecutive titles.

Luling won eight consecutive UIL 2A team titles from 2010 - 2017 and Kingwood won six UIL 5A titles from 1993 - 1998. Carroll was tied with College Station A&M Consolidated who won five titles from 1974 - 1978 and Cumby Miller Grove won five UIL 1A titles from 2017 - 2021. 

In a season where we have witnessed boys teams run multiple sub 15-minute team averages and sub 60-second spreads, it was Carroll going 15:26 for a team average and a 1:06 spread to win. For the second year in a row, Leonard and senior Blake Bullard turned in top ten individual finishes for the Dragons. Griffin Cords (11th), Kai Gutierrez (27th), and Alex Severson (43rd) concluded the scoring and the win.

Austin Vandegrift finished runner-up for the second straight season. While that is quite the accomplishment, this team believed they could have won last year and should have won this year. The 2023 team race was decided by 12-points, but this year, the difference was only four-points.

At the final stages of this race, it was actually in the Vipers' hands and their control. It came down to about 200m at best when it was back in Carroll's grasp.

Through the first mile of the race, Carroll got out to it's usual aggressive front running position. Vandegrift stayed true to their tendency and was conservative through the first mile. Carroll had 32-points on the scoreboard in the first mile thanks to their 4:43 average and 4.5-second gap. They were in first place as a team at the mile marker

Vandegrift's 4:55 first mile average and 11-second gap was moderate, but typical and in their game plan. As a team, they were in seventh place.

In the second mile, Carroll continued to press the issue and put pressure on the other teams in the field. They were still in first place thanks to a 9:51 team average and a 20-second spread. That was where the Dragons began to separate further from every team....except Vandegrift.

The Vipers closed the gap as they always do with their 9:53 two-mile average and 21-second spread. Per their race strategy and execution, they actually get stronger and move up in the second and third miles. They moved from seventh place with 212 points down to third place with 93 points behind only Carroll and Bridgeland.

The contrast in race strategies makes very enlightening comparisons and races between Carroll and Vandegrift. We've seen it take center stage in the biggest races of the season and with it all on the line at the state meet.

My question is while Vandegrift's style is highly effective against every other team and their precise execution seems to be superior, is it non-effective against Carroll? They cut into the Carroll lead in the final mile and even had the lead, they essentially had the leg up on winning the 2024 title.

Kai McCullough and Hudson Haley both moved up for Vandegrift. In the first mile, they were in 33rd and 35th place and moved into eighth and ninth at mile two. By the end of the race, they were coming off of the final turn into the straight towards the finish together. It appears Haley hit a wall and faded over the final 100m or so. McCullough went on to finish in sixth place and was Vandegrift's top finisher. 

Haley would go from the second on the team and right with McCullough to Vandegrifts fourth place scorer in 26th place and contributing 14 points to the team's total. 

If Haley had stayed strong for the final 100 meters, Vandegrift would have won. In 2023, he was the overall runner-up at the state meet. It is easy to see that he would have finished seventh right with McCullough. That would have been four points instead of 14 for the team.

The Carroll top three kept their positions as the four through seven each faded back a bit. They ended with a 15:26 team average and a 1:06 gap from one through five. Vandegrfit finished with a15:33 average and 0:35 spread and each of their top five runners continued to advance in the last mile except for Haley's final stretch.. 

Is Carroll's strategy and execution the kryptonite to Vandegrift's style and strategy? It has neutralized Vadegrift's clever style and nearly flawless execution the past two years.

The kinks in the Vandegrift chain all happened in the final 1K of both races and despite the effects of Carroll's aggressive early paces breaking down the back end of their team, they've still managed to stave off the Vandegrift attack.

The final thought and observation from this deep dive was two state meet qualifying teams were led by black head coaches. Coach Shelton Ervin led Humble Summer Creek to their first ever team qualification as a team. Coach Julius Michaels led Katy Tompkins to another state championship berth.

The only other previous black head coach to lead teams to the largest UIL classification state meet was Klein Oak's Andress Andrepont. Coach Andrepont led Klein Oak to the team runner-up finish in 2009.