Photo of Brooklyn Albert (Poth)
The 2024 cross country season in San Antonio turned out to be an amazing one with multiple team and individual State titles coming from the area. Can 2025 match the highs of last season? Only time will tell, but the first week's results are encouraging.
Running with the Big Boys
The Floresville Invitational featured top boys runners from many different classifications on Saturday. The top four finishers in the 5A/6A boys race were Titus Gill (Spartans), Adrian Rule (San Antonio Christian), Kyle Carpenter (Medina Valley) and Kaden Cypert (Floresville). Gill was a Texas Homeschool State champion during the track season and held on to win a competitive 5K in 15:42.38. Rule, the defending TAPPS 5A State champion, ran more than half of the race in a pack with his team before unleashing a furious rally over the final part of the race to take second in 15:47.01. Carpenter figures to be one of the top UIL 6A runners in the area this season and Cypert was the top freshman distance runner in San Antonio last year.
Medina Valley ended up winning the 14-team division with only 38 points as they put four runners in the top-10. San Antonio Christian edged out Holmes for second place by one point. Central Catholic had a strong showing in fourth place despite no top-10 individual finishers. Lytle, the defending 3A State champs also ran in the big school division, but only had three finishers. However, Diego Reyna, Adrian Reyna and Sebastian Garcia all finished in the top-13 which would seem to indicate the team has thoughts on a repeat at State this year.
In the Rankings
The Cross Country Coaches Association of Texas puts out State rankings throughout the season. The following teams appeared in the preseason rankings:
3A Girls - Poth (#2), Cole (#8)
3A Boys - Lytle (#1), Great Hearts Northern Oaks (#6)
4A Girls - Davenport (#4), Fredericksburg (#7)
4A Boys - Floresville (#9)
5A Girls - Smithson Valley (#1), Boerne Champion (#6)
5A Boys - Boerne (#3)
6A Girls - Johnson (#8)
In last season's pre-season rankings the Smithson Valley girls were unranked, but now after winning a State title they are the preseason #1. Lytle started last season at #2 behind the 2023 State champion Great Hearts Northern Oaks, but this year Lytle will start out on top after winning the crown in 2024. The Johnson girls give San Antonio a ranked 6A team to start the season after having no ranked 6A squads in 2024. The Jaguars are led by juniors Isabella Porter and Emily Krot who each earned CCCAT All-Region honors last year.
Racking Up Wins
Ian Lopez of BASIS Shavano is making a name for himself after a strong freshman season in which he finished fourth at the TCSAAL State meet in cross country and was the State champion in the 1600m and 3200m. He is one of a few athletes who have already competed twice on the season and he is starting to make winning a habit.
He took gold in the V-Fit Productions Invitational on August 9 running at the difficult NEISD Sports Complex course. This past weekend, he won the 1A-4A race at the Floresville Invitational posting a time of 16:44.42 as he held off Stockdale's Cooper Warrick for the win.
Traveling South
The New Braunfels girls made a strong opening statement when they traveling to McAllen for the Friday Night Lights Bulldog Invitational. Led by All-State junior Savanah Moya, the Unicorns took home the team title with 94 points. Moya finished in second place with a time of 18:29.4 for the 5K race trailing only Genesis Dolores Ramirez (La Joya Palmview). Ava Briley was the #2 runner for New Braunfels as she broke 20-minutes while finishing 16th and Issla Moya was their third runner finishing in 24th place.
Up and Coming
The Churchill girls team could be up-and-coming this year if their opening results are an indication. Last year, Kallie Van Prooyen was immediately the team's top runner as a freshman and she had a great year finishing as an individual qualifier for the UIL 6A meet. On Saturday, she was the team's second runner behind newcomer Mia Kellogg. Kellogg, a freshman, won the SCUC Invitational in 19:10.2 while Van Prooyen was the runner-up in 19:32.8. The duo controlled a race that had some of the top returning runners in the area competing including Penny Pim (Lee), Kassia Kozarski (Steele) and Kailyn Brunson (Brennan).
After their top two, Kaelyn Holland, Rose Bonner and Sienna Hartl each finished inside the top-20 for the Chargers. All five runners are underclassmen. With Churchill looking like a strong team it makes District 27-6A into a very strong district with top quality teams at Brandeis, Johnson and Reagan as well.
Around the City
The Floresville Invitational 5A/6A girls meet was won by Medina Valley with 29 points ahead of Floresville who finished with 56 points in the seven-team race. Ella Rodriguez (Medina Valley) was the individual champion covering the 5K course in 19:25.30 while Bella Adams (Holmes) was the runner-up. A familiar name, Emerald Aguirre of Southside nabbed third place. Felicity Agee gave Medina Valley a second runner in the top-five.
There were 26 teams competing in the Floresville Invitational 1A-4A boys meet. Devine won the team title with 84 points and they were led by Shawn Love who finished in 10th place. Urijah Velasquez and Zach Guerra each added top-20 finishes for the winning team. Gloria Deo Academy finished an impressive second place with 88 points. Jackson Playford finished in third place for GDA in a time of 16:57.57 while Eli Rogers and Levi Dice backed him up with top-20 finishes. Central Catholic took third place as a team in addition to their fourth place finish in the 5A/6A race.
In the girls 1A-4A Floresville Invitational, Poth and Lytle showed that they will be two of the best 3A teams in the State. Poth won with 58 points as their top four runners all finished in the top-20 in a meet consisting of 24 teams. Brooklyn Albert finished third in 12:07.46 while Katelyn Poth was sixth, Rylee Ellis was 11th and Chelsea Gorzell took 19th. Lytle was right behind with 65 points to finish as the runner-ups. Frances Scotello got her senior year started on the right note with a fifth place finish in 12:28.91. Kaycee Galindo finished in 10th place and all of their scoring runners were in the top-30. Pleasanton finished in a competitive third place with 79 points. Shalyn Gutierrez was their top runner finishing in 12th place in a time of 13:02.48. Lilia Flo (Navarro) was the top local finishing in second place in a time of 12:00.46 while freshman D'Vani Hernandez (San Antonio Christian) nabbed fourth place in 12:15.13.
The Brandeis boys and girls swept the NEISD Invitational which featured a small group of teams. Devin Malesich, Tristan Cardenas and Kian Pinilla-Jimenez finished second, third and fourth respectively for Brandeis boys. The individual winner was Clark's Aiden Adams who picked up where he left off the track season crossing the line in 15:52.90.
The Brandeis girls swept the meet by posting the first six finishers. Danelly Carrion won the race in 20:10.95 and was followed by Zoy Risinger, Delilah Huntley, Violet Ostrowski, Anabella Palumbo and Caroline Walker who all broke 21 minutes.
The Canyon girls went to Leander's Battle for Wilco Park where runners competed as teams of two. The duo of Madi Molinar and Scarlett Dusek were the meet champions with each breaking 12 minutes for the 2-mile course. Lauren Pardo and Allison Schoch teamed up for a ninth place finish.
The SCUC Invitational in Cibolo was won by the Clemens boys who finished with 39 points to top Round Rock for five points. Clemens had four runners finish in the top-10 of the 14-team competition. Sean Gonzalez led the way with a second place finish in 15:51.85 while Jayce Love (16:08.02), Aric Pinguelo (16:45.14) and Trevor Lawson (16:52.75) backed him up. Sotomayor finished in third place as a team thanks to Ilias Braxton and Paul Wallace finishing in the top-10.
Churchill won the SCUC girls meet with 50 points while Boerne Champion was third and Steele took fourth. Rebecca Bezerra led Boerne Champion with her sixth place finish in 20:14.20 while Emma Radtke and Addison Graham each finished in the top-20. Kassia Kozarski led Steele with a fourth place finish as she just broke 20-minutes for the 5K course. Penny Pim (Lee) took third place overall in 19:53.90 while Anastacia Garza (Judson) took fifth place. Taft had a pair of top-10 finishers with Natalie Badillo and Adelyn Miller.
It was good to see Kerrville hosting the Hill Country Rust Buster. Pieper narrowly won the boys race with 34 points while Reagan had 40 points. Diego Flores (Pieper) was the individual champion in 16:00 and teammates Brady Rees and Christian Cuellar joined him in the top-5. Aiden Gendron (Reagan) was the runner-up with a finish of 16:18 while Aedin Barnes was the second runner for the Rattlers finishing fourth in 16:30.
The Rust Buster had a pair of girls races with the Gold 5K and Silver 3200m. Reagan took the title in the 5K race with a total of 25 points. Ellyson Spurlock, Theone Glosser and Reese Sweatman finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th to lead the Rattlers as the trio ran between 18:56 and 19:08. Pieper's Sadie Larson was the individual champion in 18:06. Jessie Waschek of San Antonio Patriots took fifth overall in 19:26.
The 3200m race was the largest of the three races with 60 runners. Davenport took the team title with 27 points. All five of their scoring runners finished in the top-10 led by Audrey Orgill's individual title in 12:24. Kendall Fallon finished third in 12:34 and Kendall Johnston was fifth in 12:46. Reagan had a team competing that finished second with 33 points. Saraya Green took home runner-up honors for the Rattlers with a time of 12:30 while Zoe Hawkins finished fourth in 12:38. Comfort's top runner was Ellana Thiele who finished in seventh place in a time of 13:10.
What's Happening This Week
The San Antonio Friday Night Lights XC club is hosting a meet on Friday night at the Alamo City Youth Sports Fields. The Vista Ridge Cross Country Invitational in Cedar Park is also on Friday. Southside, Highlands, Karnes City, Saint Mary's Hall and Stockdale are all hosting meets and the Savio Early Bird Invitational at Walter E Long Lake in Austin will be held on Saturday