Elizabeth Leachman Sets National Records And Qualifies For US Olympic Trials
Elizabeth Leachman (Boerne Champion) had one heck of a 2024 track and field season. She won UIL 1600m and 3200m state titles and had personal best runs of 2:09 in the 800m, 4:37 in the 1,600m, and 9:43 in the 3,200m.
Prior to the state meet, the Boerne Champion Charger set a new 3,200m National Record by running 9:45.57 only to break her own record two other times. She has the three fastest all-time performances in the event including the current 9:43.74 national mark.
In the 5,000m, a non-traditional high school outdoor track event, Leachman saw what were perhaps her most impressive performances. She won the Texas Relays collegiate field in a new high school National Record.
Her time of 15:25.27 not only attributed the record to her, but it also qualified her for the US Olympic Trials. After a string of injuries hampered the end of her track and field season, she was still able to compete against collegiate and professional runners in the trials.
It is rare for someone to break a national record, but to do it as often as Leachman did in 2024, it was unbelievable until she came along.
Humble Atascocita Runs Sub 39-seconds in the 4x100 Relay
The 4x100 relay is one of the most exciting races in high school track. The high school national record entering the season was 39.76 by Fort Worth O.D. Wyatt. It was iconic and something that many thought would never be touched.
Humble Atascocita not only touched it, but they broke it...twice. Impressive, right? Well, that isn't the unbelievable part.
The fashion in which the broke the record was the unfathomable thing. Not only did they run faster, but they did by over a half a second.
First year Atascocita head coach Elton Ervin guided Tory Blaylock, Landon Fontenot, Jordan Parker, and Jelani Watkins to a time of 38.92. Many college teams don't even run that fast, and yet a group of high school boys did.
Duncanville Girls Run 44.70 4x100 Relay
Speed is King in Texas. Well, the Queens of speed in 2024 were Coach Yvette Green's Duncanville girls.
In an overall blazing fast season for Texas sprints, they saved their best for last. At the UIL 6A state meet is where they unleashed a beast of a run to the tune of 44.70.
Not only was a sub 45-second race unexpected, but it needed to beat a 45.18 from Shadow Creek.
It was a thing of beauty, which even the fastest state in the country has rarely seen. Ashley Lister, De'Kayla Simpson, Aaliyah Gipson, and Sanyah Keeton made history in not only winning the state title, but also by becoming the TX No. 4 all-time performers.
Southlake Carroll Won 6th Straight UIL 6A State Title
Southlake Carroll is now in a league of their own in Texas' largest UIL classification. In November, the Dragons won their sixth consecutive UIL 6A team state championship.
The are now one up on the the 1993-1998 Kingwood boys who won five consecutive state titles. Luling is now the only program ahead of Carroll with eight straight state titles. They won eight straight UIL 3A titles from 2010 - 2017.
What is even more impressive is that many didn't even think Carroll was the best team in the state this year. However, Coach Justin Leonard's 2024 squad was consistent and excellent in their execution to get it done.
13 Texas girls under 2:10 At 800m
The 2024 track and field season was tremendous for many reasons and much of them were for the sprint and jump events.
However, the excellence of the longer distance races on the track for the Texas girls can not be understated. The 800m, 1,600m, and 3,200m races last season were run at an all-time best level.
The girls 800m is perhaps the toughest event in the state. Sophia Bendet (Universal City Randolph) perhaps showed signs of what was to come when she ran 2:09 indoors.
A total of 13 girls ran under 2:10 in the outdoor season. Bendet was joined by Nicole Humphries and Samantha Humphries at 2:06 to lead the state. An additional 12 girls ran between 2:10 and under 2:13.
This was an unbelievable season in that event.
Cooper Lutkenhaus Sets 1:47 Freshman 800 National Record
We just mentioned the Texas girls 800m race, well Cooper Lutkenhaus (Justin Northwest) was even more impressive on the boys side. Lutkenhaus was a runner to watch going into the 2024 season and by the end of it all, he showed why.
The Justin Northwest freshman was fantastic in the 400m and 800m events and he ended the year with a Texas state record and a freshman class national record of 1:47.58.
All eyes will be on Lutkenhaus this year as plans to shoot for the 1,000m national record early in the season before hitting the thick of things in the season.
It was almost 30 years since a freshman boy ran this fast and it might be another 30 years until the next one.
Duncanville Girls Win Back-To-Back UIL 6A Team Championships
We have more Duncanville girls unbelievable accomplishments.
Not only did their 4x100 relay win this year, but the entire team won a state title. This was their second state title in a row. Only some of the most iconic squads in history have accomplished this in Texas.
The last to do it was DeSoto, which had one of the best overall teams of all-time in high school track and field.
Coach Green's squad had to hold off strong sprint teams like Klein Forest in 2023 and Shadow Creek and Humble Summer Creek in 2024. They also had to fend off distance powerhouse Flower Mound in track and field.
Mason Dossett Runs TX No. 1 A-T 110H
Fort Bend Ridge Point hurdler Mason Dossett left his mark in the 110-meter hurdle event.
For much of the season, he was in top flight form clearing the barriers and speeding up the track. While his talent was undeniable for much of his entire career, Dossett took things a bit further than most would have imagined prior to the 2024 season.
His run of 13.27 moved him to the top of the heap of all-time Texas boys hurdlers. He leads names like Eric Edwards, Alex Chukwukelu, Cordera Jenkins, Jason Richardson, Tony Brown, and Jermaine Cooper.
In the end, Dossett added the UIL 6A state title to his resume.
Texas Boys Relays Run Fastest Relay Year Ever
We've already covered the Humble Atascocita boys national record in the 4x100, but let's be honest, the season was much more than just one team.
Every elite group in the state rose to the occasion instead of folding after Atascocita's 38-second run earlier in the year. Duncanville, who had looked to challenge Atascocita throughout the season had several sub 40-second races of their own.
It was the UIL 6A state championships that produced the fastest high school boys 4x100 relay race ever. We saw four boys teams run sub 40-seconds when Galena Park North Shore (39.47), Katy Tompkins (39.85) joined to help create the masterful race. While San Antonio Harlan did not crack the 40.0 barrier, they did help contribute to the fastest race by going 40.09 for fifth place. Watch our mini-movie on the fastest high school boys 4x100 race ever.
Oh by the way, Fort Bend Marshall, the school with more sub 40-second seasons than any school in history also ran sub 40 last year. they went 39.88 to win the UIL 5A state title.
The 4x200 relay was another national record event attributed to a Texas team in 2024. Duncanville ran 1:22.25 to set the new national standard. The same race at the state meet saw Katy Tompkins run the second fastest time ever with their 1:22.72.
It is still hard to believe we saw what we did from the Texas boys sprinter in the last track and field season.
Elizabeth Leachman Has Up and Down then Back Up XC season
The first entry in this article chronicled the historical track and field season Elizabeth Leachman had in 2024. She had become what most believe to be the best American high school distance runner ever.
That made it hard to conceive that anyone could stop her from adding to her resume during the cross country season. However, the doubt came into fold.
As expected, Leachman had gone undefeated throughout the season and heading into the Region 4-5A Championships. It was then when she was leading the regional race and then failed to finish the race.
The best high school distance runner did not automatically qualify to her own state meet, the one she won the previous season by over one minute.
With her team's qualification for the state meet, she was enabled to compete for the right to defend her state title, in which she did do. However, it was far from the usual dominating performance we had grown accustomed to seeing from the Boerne Champioin star.
After her state meet performance, she told MileSplit that she was undecided on whether she would race on the national post season scene. It didn't look like health and fitness had aligned for Leachman to compete at the highest level.
Nevertheless, out of nowhere, she ran herself into fitness and qualified for the Nike Nationals and Foot Locker Nationals. She finished third at Nike and continued to improve allowing her to win the Foot Locker National Championship.
She went from the best to not qualifying for state and having a question mark associated to her to winning another national title.