Taking A Second Look At The UIL 5A State Meet

The UIL 5A Cross Country State Championships was one heck of a combination of two races. Going in, it was both the Lovejoy girls and boys teams who were looking to defend their championships. On the girl's side, it was Elizabeth Leachman in search for her second consecutive win as well. The exciting part about the 5A boys individual race was that it was a free-for-all for the title.

As clear as the objectives looked, things were way messier than they appeared at first glance.

The Lovejoy girls were facing the entire state feeling like they had chances of knocking them off the throne after graduating multiple all-state members. It was a similar situation for the Lovejoy boys with the lineup they modified once the season started.

Just the week prior, the invincible and impenetrable aura of Elizabeth Leachman looked like Lex Luther had hit Superman with Kryptonite.

By now, you've watched the UIL 5A races and you've viewed the results. However, after further evaluation we want to conjure up some additional thoughts about the races and some repeated view because they were just that good.

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Girls Individual Race

Individually, in the UIL 5A girls race, despite the perceived weakness in Leachman's force field, she cam away defending her 2023 state title.

Her vulnerability was just that, a perception and was way less of a reality.

Leachman further fanned the flames of the possibility of her loss in the beginning of the race. It took almost 1,000m if not more for her to get at the front of the race. Usually getting out to the early lead as quick as possible, she instead had to weave in and out and wait for room to get out to clear running lanes.

The Boerne Champion junior managed to get up front on the levee and she joined Dana Rojas Vasquez (McAllen) as the two forged their way around the first mile and a half together.

The defending champ would begin to pull away right before the two-mile and had an eight second lead at one-third of the race left to go. She would close the door and expand her lead finishing in 17:14 over the second place finisher in 18:07.

We'll have to wait and see if she continues to compete in the post season or shut it down. She admitted to MileSplit in her post race interview that it was 50/50 whether she'd continue to compete this season.

Vasquez held on for runner-up after a 23rd place finish in 2023. Vasquez is one the few girls who has proven she is neither mesmerized nor settled to wait for Leachman to dictate the race.

At the Region 4 Championship the McAllen senior proved she was confident enough to run with with Leachman. Despite the consequences that come with that decision, she had the aggressiveness to get out irregardless of what was going on with others in the race. Her splits of 5:39, 5:44, and 6:56 were the formula to beating everyone except the two-time champ.

Brady Solansky (2254) competes at the 2024 UIL 5A girls state meet with one shoe

Photo Credit: Hayden Luther

I was also impressed with freshman Brady Solansky (Smithson Valley). She actually won the Region 4 title when she was able to overcome Vasquez in Corpus Christi.

There was a lot of responsibility on the youngster's shoulders in Round Rock. Her team was trying to win a state title and it was all dependent on her low still capability.

The level of difficulty was increased during the first mile. Solansky lost one of her shoes and had to run over 2/3 of the race one shoed and one bare footed (with a sock).

All she did was run 5:34, 5:53, and 6:43 splits holding off the classification's best runners and closed on the top two. In the end, Solansky finished with one shoe, in third place, and with a 18:10 performance.

There was more youth in the top ten right behind Solansky. Freshman, Sofia Phillips (Birdville) was fourth in 18:15 and sophomore Savanah Moya (New Braunfels) was fifth in 18:15 as well.

Despite a loss in Round Rock, the Lovejoy girls program is here and in the middle of a dynasty. They've won the three previous state championships prior to this season. With many of their previous stars who have helped carry them to their wins now competing in the NCAA, this figured to be the vulnerable year for the Leopards.

That vulnerability allowed the Smithson Valley Rangers to peek through as they ran their way to the 2024 title. Despite getting their winning streak ended, it wasn't a fall off by Lovejoy, but more of like Smithson Valley just winning.

Lovejoy finished runner-up with a 97 point total. Their 19:17 team average with a 1:01 spread was a commendable run and almost good enough to win it all once again. Having their 3, 4, 5, and 6 runners with a gap of eight-seconds and in the mid 19:30s and not having a their best race day shows how good this team actually is. Despite the loss, they will return six of their top seven runners for next year giving them a shot to get back to the top of the podium.

As far as Smithson Valley is concerned, this season was fluid for much of the year. The freshman laden group matured throughout the season and relied on guidance from their upperclassman leadership in junior Lilly Koenig and senior Mia Perez.

Although Lovejoy had some issues within the race, I don't think they as much lost the state title as much as it was Smithson Valley winning it.

Solansky's ability to maintain her front race running after losing her shoe can't be commended enough. The freshman's relentlessness to disallow a personal disadvantage from becoming an overall team disadvantage was key; her third place finish was huge for the team. 

Koenig's top ten finish was another key to the Rangers win; she blazed the final 1,000m of the race to pass several girls. Teaming up with Solansky they only tallied 10 points through two runners with reinforcements not far behind.

Smithson Valley had the senior Perez in a freshman sandwiched between Skyler Fonseca and Aubrey Pozzi as the three placed consecutively in18th, 19th, and 20th. Their three-man gap was only three seconds and securely sealed their win.

Both teams had tight packed 3-6 runners and were able to compete their scoring early. However, Smithson Valley's contingent was just ahead of Lovejoy's. Their top six were all ahead of Lovejoy's number three runner; they also had the upper hand at the low-stick positions. 

Their race was the exact same format Lovejoy has able to execute all three of their state titles.

Bryce Denton (L) and Aiden Fitzgerald (R)

Photo Credit: Hayden Luther

It's not often you see a team or athlete move up a classification and immediately have success. Most of the time, we see that when the movement is down a classification. However, Bryce Denton was going to be a competitor in any UIL classification he was in.

The Anna senior was a 2023 medalist in the 4A classification, but with the suburbs north of Dallas growing, this year, he was competing in 5A. He immediately took the first state title he could in the larger classification.

It was one of the top returners from last year's state championships Aiden Fitzgerald (Friendswood) who immediately got out to a fast start in the race. He went through the first mile with a split of 4:47 as Denton (4:49) was playing catch up after a slow start.

It was a two man race through the next mile with a three man chase pack. After dominating the lead, Denton would pull away for good to the 15:16 win with Fitzgerald in second at 15:32.

Miles Westbrook (El Paso) and Charlie Houck (Boerne Champion) give chase all race long and finished third and fourth in 15:39 and 15:41 respectfully.

Region 1 individual runners have run amuck over the past decade and have captured the individual stat titles more often than not. However, this year, the streak came to an end with Denton's win

The top ten finishers had two from Region 1 two from Region 2, five from Region 3 and and one from Region 4.

Austin Anderson junior Colby Huntress who had a great sophomore year in 2023 based on times (15:34, 4:11, 1:52) started the year off with a 15:49 in August, but then had physical and health difficulties and was unable to compete until his district meet where he placed fourth with a time of 17:06.

However, he would run himself back into shape going 15:55 at UIL Region III for a sixth place qualifying position. At state, he dropped splits of 4:59 and 5:11 for a two-mile time of 10:12. Huntress was in 20th place at the two mile mark, but was able to dig down and used his speed in the last 1,800m to run 5:41 and move up to 6th place at the finish with a time of 15:52 and his fastest time since August.

Wakeland (L), Lovejoy (C), and Boerne Champion (R) runners compete at the 2024 5A state championship race

Photo Credit: Hayden Luther

Boys Team Race

The Lovejoy were looking to repeat just like their girls counterparts. They had the best team in the state returning from 2023 on paper, but the season did not play out that way.

Instead of fielding the team many thought they would, they had to call an audible at the beginning of the season. That "Plan B" was to move guys up a spot or two. That saw guys who had been developing through the years and some guys who were supposed to be from the 3-7 spots have to be counted on for carrying the heavy load.

All they did was get key seasons from non seniors like Tristan Arceneau and Joseph Reid along with seniors and some expected contributors like William Carlson, Tyler Morefield, and Liam Dunleavy.

Arceneau turned in a ninth place and all-state finish at the state meet. He was huge all year long going sub 16-min in every race except one this year.

They won their second of the back-to-back titles with a 16:16 team average with at 0:46 second spread. That gave them a 50-point margin of victory.

In essence, the rest of the 5A boys were going for second place and this year's division was as close as it could possibly get throughout the entire state. In this race, five teams ran sub 16:40 team averages with two more under 16:45.

Of those teams, four of them had sub 60-second team spreads.

The Boerne boys have proven several times over the past two seasons that they are gamers. They show up and execute on the big stage. They ran a 9-second gap in 2023 to finish third in the UIL 4A race. This year, they almost replicated that accomplishment.

Through the first four scoring positions, they were in the mix to knock off Lovejoy. Their 1-4 runners were again within 9-seconds and they almost finished consecutively going 12, 13, 15, and 17. Their fifth scorer just happened to finish 80th and 58-second back from the rest of their pack. Overall, they ended with a 16:32 team average and with a 1:07 spread

A tip of the cap goes to Frisco Wakeland as well. They ran fabulous going for a 16:36 average. However, it was how they did it that assured them their third place finish. Their scorer placements were 15, 28, 29, 32, and 39th. More impressively, their 1-5 gap was only 11-seconds.

They were close to a second place finish, but they were so close to not getting on the podium. Grapevine was 21-point back, but it was way closer than it appears. They averaged only one-second behind Wakeland and only had a 51-second spread.

Boerne Champion and El Paso Burges both had sub 16:40 averages going 16:34 and 16:39 and McAllen and Weslaco East turning in 16:43 and 16:44 team averages and 0:54 and 0:21 spreads.

If McAllen's number one runner doesn't finish as their number five, they are possibly on the podium. They were seventh and 36-points behind third place; their most talented runner added 76 points to their total. If he is just ahead of their top finisher who added 19 points then their point total is potentially nearly 120; if he is right behind their fourth runner in 42nd place, then they would have a near 134 point point total. Boerne scored 137 points and Wakeland scored 153 points.

Of the top ten teams, it was Region 4 looking like the best performer in Round Rock. Region 1 had two teams in the top ten, Region 2 had two who were podium teams, Region 3 had two, and Region 4 had the most with four.