Lead pack of the 2024 NXR South Championship Boys race
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The 2023 Nike South Regional was a little more hectic than the 2024 version. It had historical value with the second non-Texas boys team to qualify for NXN and the first in quite some time.
This year, the chances of a repeat type of situation was there, but in the end, it was the Lone Star teams plugging in the top three team positions and they had eight of the top ten individual finishers.
Individual Boys Race
Caden Leonard (Southlake Carroll) entered the meet as the top returning finisher from the 2023 race where he was third. A few weeks ago, he had added a second consecutive Texas UIL 6A state championship to his resume.
Entering with confidence, Leonard used the same surge form the state meet weeks ago to distance himself from the field at Bear Branch Park. He held on for the win, cross the finish line with a time of 15:02, seven seconds behind last year's pace and his first run over 15-minutes this season, however good enough for his first individual NXR South win.
In second place was Benjamin Montgomery (Bridgeland). The senior pulled in over the final meters to kick his way to the runner-up finish. Montgomery also finished in the same position at the state meet, but this one secured his second trip to Portland.
Brady Mullen (New Orleans Jesuit) wasn't going to allow a qualifying position to NXN slip through his grasps for the second straight season. After narrowly missing out in 2023, Mullen who was frolicking through the park and around the course with the leaders after he joined them just following the first mile. Mullen had even momentarily led the in the last thirds of the race.
Individual Qualifiers
1. Brady Mullen (Jesuit)
2. Aiden Danny Torres (El Paso Eastwood)
3. Noah Strohman (Holliday)
4. Aiden Monistere (Parkview Baptist)
5. Joaquin De La Cruz (McKinney Boyd)
Caden Leonard (Southlake Carroll) crosses the finish line first
Photo Credit: Hayden Luther/MileSplit TX
He exhibited his fitness and learned experience from last season's miss. Mullen had just ran in the Louisiana state meet five days prior where he ran LHSAA D1 meet record going 14:44 for the three-mile distance. He finished third, only 0.1 behind Montgomery.
Aidan Danny Torres (El Paso Eastwood) was in the mix for the entire race; he fell back a bit in the final mile, but was able to secure his second NXN qualification. Torres was fourth with at time of 15:15. Noah Strohman (Holliday) turned in a nearly exact same race as Torres. He was unable to qualify last season, but the junior and three-time UIL 3A state champion was able to accomplish the feat this season with his 15:19 run and fifth place finish.
Baton Rouge, LA senior Aiden Monistere (Parkview Baptist) was in the same situation as fellow Louisiana star Mullen. Following the LHSAA state meet on Monday, Monistere added a stop to compete in the LHSAA state swim meet to his week's workload before heading to NXR South. However, he was still able to keep pace with the leaders the entire race and held on for a sixth place finish to qualify for his first NXN.
Blake Bullard (Southlake Carroll) improved his standing from last year's NXR South where he finished in 12th place. He went from a finishing time of 15:52 in 2023 to 15:24 to move up to seventh place.
Joaquin De La Cruz (McKinney Boyd) finished in eighth place overall with a final time of 15:31. De La Cruz is headed to his first NXN just weeks after his seventh place finish at the UIL 6A state meet.
Rounding out the top ten, were Griffen Saacke (Bridgeland) in ninth place running a time of 15:33 as did UIL 4A state champion Lathan Lewter (Canyon) in tenth place.
Carroll's post race interview
Photo Credit: Hayden Luther/MileSplit TX
Boys Team Race
Carroll's boys team has advanced to NXN for the 16th time since 2004, which is the year the event was created. The only years they failed to qualify were 2005 ,2008, and 2009. There were also the 2020 and 2021 years when the event was affected by the COVID Pandemic.
Carroll is coming off its most successful showing at the Nike Cross Nationals when in 2023 as well as having won their sixth consecutive UIL 6A state meet.
The Dragons followed the state meet win Saturday by running for a 15:39 team average and a 1:05 team split. Leonard's 15:02 win led the charge and Bullard's seventh place run further solidified it.
Griffin Cords added another elite performance going 15:38, giving Carroll runners a top three finish all within the top 15 and only 36-seconds apart. Alex Severson and Jaxon Glenn finished 38th and 43rd.
Boys Team Qualifiers
1. Southlake Carroll
2. Cypress Bridgeland
Bridgeland and Eastwood team members compete at NXR South
Photo Credit: Hyden Luther/MileSplit TX
The Cypress Bridgeland Bears earned their first NXN qualification. The third place UIL 6A state championship finishing team was able to advance their positioning by one position.
They ran a 15:48 team average with a 1:10 gap. Montgomery's runner-up finish teamed with a ninth place finish by Saacke helped the up front. The third and fourth position runners Maddox McCallister (5:54) and Tyler Weston (16:01) helped give Bridgeland their qualifying berth.
The Austin Vandegrift boys were the third place finishing team. They were the runner-up finishers behind Carroll and ahead of Bridgeland at the UIL 6A state meet. At NXR South, Vandegrift ran a 15:57 team average with only a 0.36 second
Twenty-points behind Bridgeland and 36-points behind Carroll, Vandegrift will have to wait and see if they'll be awarded an at-large big to NXN.
El Paso Eastwood earned an at-large bid in 2019 and was the last team in the South region to do so.