Juniors Elizabeth Leachman (Boerne Champion) and Caden Leonard (Southlake Carroll) have risen through the ranks of the elite runners in Texas. They have also firmly cemented themselves on the national stage.
Their most recent affair was this past weekend at the Nike Cross Nationals where they both completed their races with third place finishes amongst the nation's best high school runners and teams.
At the 2023 race, Leachman finished in 15th place with a time of 17:53. After a record breaking season last year, her race strategy has adapted over the last two months.
That led to her starting more conservative throughout the first mile as she built up to join the leaders. The UIL 5A state champion advanced up to the second position until the final meters when she was passed up. Leachman's final performance was also 40-seconds faster than last year with her 17:13 performance.
South Team
Elizabeth Leachman (Boerne Champion) - 3rd - 17:13
Sophia Bendet (Universal City Randolph) - 15th - 17:41
Lilly Beshears (Rogers, Arkansas) - 17th place - 17:36
Elin Latta (South Texas Heat Homeschool) - 23rd place - 17:46
Macy Wingard (Denton Braswell) - 57th place - 18:31
Flower Mound - 14th place - 358 points - 19:19 Avg/1:22 Spread
Adeline Bennett - 63rd place - 18:37
Alexandra Fox - 91st place - 18:59
Ava Cole - 124th place - 19:26
Keira Primer - 134th place - 19:33
Liana Cluley-Garza - 161st place - 19:58
McKayla Kohutek - 168th place - 20:07
Eliana Rivera - 191st place - 20:53
Carroll - 22nd Place - 507 points - 19:45 Avg/1:04 Spread
Elizabeth Smits - 88th place - 18:57
Sarayu Veluri - 155th place 19:48
Abigail Perez - 160th place - 19:59
Quinn Salstrand - 162nd place - 20:00
Luna Gutierrez - 164th place - 20:02
Grace McIlvain - 176th place - 20:23
Gabriella Tesoriero - 182nd place - 20:33
For Leonard, he produced the slowest time of his 2024 season.; major contributing factors were weather and course conditions. At this point in the season, times are always thrown out of the window when it comes to NXN, all that matters is the placement.
It was a 15:31 personal best run on this course for the UIL 6A state champion and it just so happened to earn him an All-American third place finish.
In the biggest race of his career, Leonard was in the race from the gun. His pumping arms were easily identifiable in the sea of runners at the start of the race as he sprinted his way to the front pack.
After momentarily taking the lead, it was near the 3K, where a slip-and-fall by Leonard may have cost him the win. On a muddy turn, he fell and even though it wasn't completely detrimental, he immediately went from first to fifth place.
As a mentally prepared runner he was cool, calm, and collected in the moment and was able to stay in the lead pack throughout the end.
The fall was just a bit too costly to the legs for us to get they typical Caden Leonard kick we usually see, He was able to cross the finish line in third place.
South Team
Aidan Danny Torres (El Paso Eastwood) - 12th Place - 15:37
Aiden Monistere (Baton Rouge Parkview Baptist) - 25th place - 15:57
Brady Mullen (New Orleans Jesuit) - 36th place - 16:05
Joaquin De La Cruz (McKinney Boyd) - 125th place - 16:54
Noah Strohman (Holliday) - 135th place - 16:58
Carroll - 4th place - 135 points - 16:10 Avg/1:10 Spread
Caden Leonard - 3rd place - 15:31
Blake Bullard - 47th place - 16:11
Griffin Cords - 51st place - 16:13
Kai Gutierrez - 55th place - 16:16
Alex Severson - 103rd place - 16:41
Jaxon Glenn - 121st place - 16:53
Michael Fuller - 154th place - 17:14
Vandegrift - 7th place - 256 points - 16:32 Avg/0:24 Spread
Hudson Haley - 58th place - 16:18
Collin Goodwin - 73rd place - 16:28
Kai McCullough - 92nd place - 16:34
Jack Ebeier - 98th place - 16:36
Jackson Stafford - 105th place - 16:42
Christian Castro-Cruz - 108th place - 16:45
Miles Nutt - 188th place - 18:11
Bridgeland - 19th place - 16:55 Avg/1:39 Spread
Benjamin Montgomery - 23rd place - 15:53
Maddox McCallister - 128th place - 16:55
Griffen Saacke - 136th place - 16:58
Tyler Weston - 153rd place - 17:14
Kyle Pawlak - 168th place - 17:33
Layton Carlisle - 172nd place - 17:39
Braden Greenaway - 191st place - 18:18