August is over and it is time to take a look around the State at some of the largest meets as well as some of the top individual performances thus far this cross country season. Last week there were four meets where at least 1,000 athletes competed; the DUBEast XC Invitational in Wylie, the Pro-Fit Cross Country Invitational in Temple, the Southlake 2-Mile at Bob Jones Park and the Westlake Chaparral Invitational.
MORE: Westlake Chaparral Invitational Recap
DUBEast XC Invitational
The DUBEast meet featured both Elite and Open divisions for the girls and boys. The Elite Girls was the closest team race with Frisco Wakeland holding off Melissa for the team title by a three-point margin. Lily Schmidt led Wakeland with the individual title running the 5K race in 17:51.95 to win by a comfortable margin. However, Melissa had the next three finishers with Grace Vuong (fifth), Addison Hanshaw (sixth) and Diem Casselberry (ninth) giving them three in the top-10 as they each ran 18:50 or better.
Wakeland followed up Melissa's three runners with three of their own as Caelan Chen, Madelyn Gibbs and Emma Teague finished in a pack taking 14th, 15th and 16th. Alexandra Holguin was right behind them in 17th place for Melissa. That meant the team title came down to the #5 runners with Melissa holding a 9-point advantage. Katie Gibbs secured the team title for Wakeland when she crossed the finish line in 19:47.35.
Overall, the Elite Girls race had 10 runners go sub-19 minutes. Evangeline Williams (Wylie East), Avaya Perkins (McKinney North) and Nandini Vegesana (Frisco Centennial) all finished between Schmidt and Vuong in 18:20 or less to round out the top-5 finishers. Lewisville Marcus boasted a pair of runners in the top-10 with Kinsley Tracy and Tinsley Potter while Midlothian Heritage nearly did the same thing with Zoe Willoughby (eighth) and Madison Gomez (11th). Lewisville Marcus ended up in third place as a team while Wylie East was fourth and McKinney North was fifth out of 16 teams.
Rock Hill controlled the Elite Boys race winning with 61 points. They were the first team to have two finishers, three finishers, four finishers and five finishers. Their top three runners, Matteo De Leon, Excellence Kikontwe and Haamid Farhan all broke 16 minutes in the 5K race and finished in the top-10 overall. Their #4 and #5 runners, Ryan Gerard and Alexander Koczan ran 16:18.92 and 16:27.02 to round out their scoring runners.
The battle for second place was close with Lewisville Marcus and Midlothian Heritage each giving their all. After their first three runners Midlothian Heritage held a one-point advantage, but Kaius Bonneau and Albert Van Der Wal finished a few spots ahead of their counterparts at #4 and #5 to give Lewisville Marcus the runner-up spot. Wylie East finished in fourth place with 154 points and were followed by Mansfield Lake Ridge with 155 points and Frisco Wakeland with 161 points.
McKinney North's Rhett Hulin was the individual champion running a time of 15:05.73 to give himself a 13-second advantage over Midlothian Heritage's Jake Mooney. Greyson Potter (Lewisville Marcus), De Leon and Chance Anderson (Rockwall Heath) rounded out the top-5. Overall, there were 11 runners under 16 minutes and the top 51 entries were all faster than 17 minutes.
The Open Girls and Open Boys divisions a mixture of different schools and schools running a second varsity team. In each case, the individual Open Girls champion and Open Boys champion would have finished in 33rd place in the Elite Division with the same time.
Garland's Nathaly Miranda was the Girls Open champion with a time of 20:12.78. Meanwhile, Wylie won the team title with 43 points as their top five runners finished inside the top-20 including Alexis Lee (third), Alice Hall (sixth) and Emerson Pierce (10th) in the top-10. Royse City finished in second place and Frisco Wakeland's 'B' team took third place.
Rockwall won the Open Boys title with 53 points and they were led by Robee Green's winning performance of 16:38.24 which was 30 seconds faster than second place. Green's teammates David Ajayi (third) and Davin Anderson (10th) gave the team three finishers in the top-10. The Lewisville Marcus 'B' team finished second place and Royse City nabbed third place.
Pro-Fit Invitational
The Pro-Fit Cross Country Invitational on August 28 featured 1A-4A and 5A-6A divisions in both boys and girls. The 1A-4A Varsity Boys 3-Mile race featured the Bosqueville brothers, Cristiano Tinoco and Juan Tinoco. The duo, two of the top 2A runners in the State, each medaled with Cristiano winning with a time of 16:37.78 while Juan had to settle for third place after being edged out by Rockdale's Jonathan Fuller for second place by less than a half second. Those three were the only runners to break 17 minutes in the race among the 148 runners.
After the top three, there were 11 more runners who went under 18 minutes, including the top three runners from Lorena (3A); Isaiah Gallegos (17:29.47), Jensen Strelsky (17:45.41) and Jaxun Hightower (17:53.82). That trio led the Leopards to victory as they tallied 69 points and posted a 1:00 1-5 split after Tyler Bucher and Marcus Dunton both crossed the finish line in the top-25. Giddings, a 4A program, followed in third place with 91 points. They were led by Ryan Orocio who finished fifth overall. West followed in third place as they edged Cameron Yoe by five points. Florence was another four points back and Georgetown Gateway was sixth with 160 points putting four teams within 15 points of each other
Thorndale's Jamie Llanas showed that he may be able to contend with the Tinoco brothers when it comes to the State meet after finishing fourth overall.
The 1A-4A Varsity Girls 2-Mile race featured 18 scoring teams and 136 runners. Valor Prep Academy out of Waco did not field a full team, but made their presence felt. Clara Gibson took the overall individual title in 13:14.20 for a five second victory. Her teammate, Jozie McCall, finished in a strong 12th place with her time of 14:20.29. Overall, there were only seven runners that broke 14 minutes with both West (3A) and Thorndale (2A) placing two runners in the top seven.
West was led by freshmen Mary Clare Wise and Kelsie Filer who finished second and fourth place, respectively. The first five runners from West all finished among the top-25 scoring runners after Karis Monthie (13th), Ella Decker (26th) and Olivia Janek (27th) crossed the line. The 66 total points easily gave West the team title. Jarrell (4A) hung tight through the first four runners thanks to Gianna Rivera (3rd) and Mckenzie Jennings (7th), but their fifth runner finished 25 spots behind West and they settled for second place with 106 points.
The race for third place came down to Fairfield (3A), Little River Academy (3A) and Salado (4A). Fairfield's top five runners average 15:00 while Little River Academy and Salado each averaged 15:02. In the end, Fairfield took third with 142 points while Little River Academy had 151 points and Salado had 152 points.
The 5A-6A Varsity Boys 3-Mile division showed by Salado is one of the top 4A teams in the State. They dominated the competition with a 32-point tally and a 16:45 average race time among their top five runners. Seth Anderson led the way with a dominant winning performance. He crossed the finish line in 15:38.35 and then had to wait 34 seconds before Chase Moederzoon (Liberty Hill) broke the tape in 16:12.50 for second place. Salado's top five runners all finished in the top 12 with Daniel Anderson (third), Cash Drigalla (seventh), Lane Johnson (ninth) and Jackson Camp (12th) closing out the team title.
Liberty Hill (5A) and Killeen Harker Heights (6A) each had two runners in the top-10. Moederzoon and Zander Radziwon led Liberty Hill with their top performances and the team finished in fourth place with 111 points. Harker Heights was led by Blake Zimmerman and Kealin Sandifer and they finished in third place.
Despite not having any runners in the top-10, Lake Belton (6A) took runner-up honors with 86 points. They posted a 1-5 split of 0:55 which was tops among all the teams. Wyatt Potts was their top finisher in 17:20.82 to finish in 11th place.
The Salado (4A) girls matched their boys by winning the 5A-6A Varsity Girls 3A race. They entered the season as one of the top teams in the State and they posted a nearly flawless performance. Freshman Isabel Motley won the individual title in 18:13.32 as she topped teammate McCall Boyd who took second in 18:15.56. Boyd was the fifth-place finisher at the 2025 UIL 4A State Cross Country meet. Annalee Bryant and Abby Anderson gave Salado the top four runners in the race. Their #5 runner, Hayden Griesemer, came in sixth place behind Temple's (6A) Azaria Staples who crossed the line in 19:36.18. Salado's top seven runners all finished inside the top-15.
Liberty Hill (5A) nabbed runner-up honors after putting four runners of their own in the top-12; Taylor Jorde, Chloe Egizio, Isabella Lamb and Faith Romney. Lorena (3A) finished in third place with 90 points after posting a 1-5 split of 0:34.
Southlake 2-Mile
The Southlake 2-Mile at Bob Jones Park featured Elite and Open division for the boys and girls. In the Elite Boys division host Southlake Carroll ran away with the title with just 26 points. Kai Gutierrez led the way by winning the individual title in 9:17.1 while teammates Adhavan Palanivelrajan and Evan O'Donnell were close behind him in third and fourth place, respectively. Jaxon Glenn and Grant Norgart gave the team five scoring runners in the top-10.
Flower Mound finished in a strong second place with 75 points. Joshua Shemi took fifth place in a time of 9:27.00 while Hayes Iacomini, Owen Dunham and Elliot Carrier all finished in the top-20. Northwest Nelson finished third with 149 points while Walnut Grove was fourth with 183 points and Mansfield Legacy finished in fifth place with 189 points.
Overall, there were 40 runners who broke 10 minutes on the 2-mile course and the first five runners all ran faster than 9:30. Nolan Werth of Fort Worth Paschal was the runner-up and posted a time of 9:23.5.
In the Open Boys division, Flower Mound ran away with the title with 32 points while Southlake Carroll was second with 103 points and Fort Worth Christian was third with 105 points. Kollin Green was the individual champion for Fort Worth Christian with his winning time of 9:58.9. Flower Mound had the next three finishers in Eric Cano, Sivan Manikandan and Connor Nurre to help them win the meet.
Flower Mound won the Elite Girls title as well with only 33 points to win by 60 points. Adeline Bennett (10:26.7) and Liana Cluley-Garza (10:50.2) swept the top two spots for Flower Mound and then Eliana Rivera and Allie Driscoll finished seventh and eighth, respectively, to secure the title. Northwest Nelson got a strong performance from their top two runners, Elena Sather and Lyla Calaway, who finished in third place and fourth place. Nelson took second place overall with 93 points.
Comal Canyon finished in third place as a team with 115 points thanks to a pair of top 20 performances by Madi Molinar and Scarlett Dusek. Southlake Carroll finished in fourth place with 137 points while Decatur and A&M-Consolidated each had 161 points.
The Open Girls division featured 12 teams and was won by Flower Mound with 40 points. All five of their runners finished inside the top-20 including Paisley Olson, Makayla Suffredin and Mackenzie Chilton who finished in the top-10.
Southlake Carroll was the second-place team with 58 points and were followed by Fort Worth Boswell and Pearland. Marina Lara of Pearland was the individual champion with a time of 12:01.3.August is over and it is time to take a look around the State at some of the largest meets as well as some of the top individual performances thus far this cross country season. Last week there were four meets where at least 1,000 athletes competed; the DUBEast XC Invitational in Wylie, the Pro-Fit Cross Country Invitational in Temple, the Southlake 2-Mile at Bob Jones Park and the Westlake Chaparral Invitational.
MORE: Westlake Chaparral Invitational Recap
DUBEast XC Invitational
The DUBEast meet featured both Elite and Open divisions for the girls and boys. The Elite Girls was the closest team race with Frisco Wakeland holding off Melissa for the team title by a three-point margin. Lily Schmidt led Wakeland with the individual title running the 5K race in 17:51.95 to win by a comfortable margin. However, Melissa had the next three finishers with Grace Vuong (fifth), Addison Hanshaw (sixth) and Diem Casselberry (ninth) giving them three in the top-10 as they each ran 18:50 or better.