San Antonio XC 2026 News and Notes Week #3

San Antonio -- Labor Day Weekend was a good one for local teams and runners. The season is starting to take shape and there are some teams that are showing signs of being ready to compete at the State level later in the season.

Statement Wins

            There were two teams that really stood out this weekend, the Churchill girls and the Creek View boys. Churchill continues to put together excellent performances this season and Friday was no different as they won the highly competitive Hays CISD Invitational. Mia Kellogg (18:05) and Kallie Van Prooyen (18:09) went 1-2 on the 5K course and Kaelyn Holland (18:47) finished seventh to give them a great top-3. The top teams that they defeated were Canyon and then two of the top 5A teams in the State, Smithson Valley and Boerne Champion.

            The Creek View boys are in their first year as a varsity program and they won the Long Creek Invitational small school division. Noah Foulk was the individual champion in 16:50.05 and he had plenty of help as all five of their scoring runners finished in the top-20.

In the Rankings

            The Cross Country Coaches Association of Texas puts out State rankings throughout the season. The following teams appeared in the first season rankings:

5A Girls: Smithson Valley (#2), Boerne Champion (#5), New Braunfels (#8)

5A Boys: Boerne Champion (#4)

4A Girls: Davenport (#5), Wimberley (#9), Fredericksburg (#10)

3A Boys: Lytle (#1)

            The Smithson Valley and Boerne Champion girls each ran at the Hays CISD Invitational while New Braunfels was idle this past week. The Rangers finished in third place out of 26 teams and were led by Brady Solansky (19:13) and Addison Knibbe (19:29) while the team had an average time of 19:43. The Chargers finished in fourth place behind SV and got a pair of strong performances from Rebecca Bezerra (3rd, 18:24) and Payton Kidder (19:23) and they had a team average of 19:41.

            The Boerne Champion boys continued their winning ways at the Hays CISD Invitational scoring 83 points to top the 32-team meet. All five of their scoring runners finished inside the top-25 and they averaged 16:13 as a group with a 0:45 1-5 split. Shawn Edwards finished in sixth overall to lead the team with a time of 15:40.

            The Davenport girls won the Long Creek Invitational small school division with 40 points. Raelin Cortinas (sixth), Kendall Johnston (eighth) and Sophia Osborne (11th) gave them a strong top three finishers as they easily won. Wimberley ran at the Hays CISD meet and finished in 17th place although Corina Joyce finished 13th overall on the 5K course. Fredericksburg ran at the 5th Annual Steve Golemon Bandera Invitational and finished in second place. Abbi Brown won the race in 11:59.75 while Madalyn Kovar was fifth overall.

            The Lytle boys finished in fourth place in the big school division at Long Creek. Jacob Cantu (eighth, 16:14.48) and Adrian Reyna (11th, 16:46.68) led the team and they had a 17:07 average.

Old Rivals

            Cole and Great Hearts Northern Oaks used to be in the same district, but this year GHNO was moved up to 4A. On Saturday, they went head-to-head and it was an exciting competition between the two in Poth. Cole's brother duo of Caden Kitson and Levi Kitson were the first two across the finish line in 16:19.26 and 16:30.75, respectively. The Griffons quickly matched that with the next three finishers; Lawson Warren, Carter Hasler and Sam Davis before Liam Foreman crossed the line in sixth place for Cole. GHNO was able to put three more runners across the tape; Micah Evans, Brock Warren and Max Mendez, before Cole was able to push across their #4 runner and the team title went to Great Hearts by four points.

Surprises

            There were a few results this weekend that gave me pause. The first was Sotomayor winning the Long Creek Invitational over Clemens. Clemens was ranked in the State during the preseason and have been one of the best teams in the Region lately, but Sotomayor showed that they may have the top 6A team in the city.

            The second surprise was not that the Reagan girls won the Long Creek Invitational, but the fashion in which they did it. The Rattlers scored just 19 points and had six of the top seven finishers in the race led by Paige Opaska's winning time of 19:27.00.

            I was also surprised to see the Bandera girls top Fredericksburg. Running on their home course was surely an advantage, but by placing four runners in the top-11 they showed that they could be a team to contend with at the 4A level this year. Kaylee Fried led the team with a third-place finish while 400m-800m star Milesia Casas grabbed sixth place.

Around the City

            The Hays CISD Invitational was the biggest meet of the weekend with 32 boys' teams and 26 girls' teams competing. In addition to Boerne Champion taking home the title for the varsity boys, Johnson finished in sixth place, Churchill was ninth and Smithson Valley was 12th. Johnson was running without some of their top runners, but did have a pair of freshmen, Cooper Cardenas and Kevin Haller in their #2 and #3 spots, who each broke 17 minutes. Churchill's Zach Hudson was the top local runner finishing in fifth place overall in a time of 15:35 while Floresville's Kaden Cypert was the top small school runner placing eighth in 15:43.

            In the varsity girls race at 5-Mile Dam Complex, the top four teams were all local; Churchill, Canyon, Smithson Valley and Boerne Champion. Madi Molinar (Canyon) and Adriana Parra (Johnson) each finished in the top-10 in addition to the Churchill and Champion runners mentioned earlier. Canyon posted an outstanding runner-up finish and averaged 19:22 with a 1:08 1-5 split.

            Long Creek High School hosted big school and small school division races last week. Sotomayor was the big school winner for the boys with 63 points and they were led by Ilias Braxton who finished third in 15:55.25 and Matthew Gomez who crossed the line in sixth place. Their next three runners all finished inside the top-25. Clemens, Lytle and Reagan all finished among the top five teams and Gloria Deo Academy did quite well finishing seventh despite being a small school. Marion's Jayce Love won again making him a perfect 4-for-4 on the season with his fastest time of the year, 15:40.67. Alvaro Zuniga of Lee ran a quality time of 15:50.41 to take runner-up honors. Levi Dice led Glora Deo Academy with his 12th place finish in 16:50.89.

            As mentioned earlier, Creek View won the small school division for boys with 59 points as they topped Davenport by a mere 10 points. Caleb Bliss led Davenport with his fourth place finish in 17:22.09 and he got a lot of help from teammates Caleb Pena and Graham Hatch who each finished in the top 10. John Paul II finished in fourth place as a team and received a top five finish from Patrick Bauknecht. San Antonio Christian's Christian Tarver crossed the line three second behind Bauknecht to take sixth place.

            The Reagan girls dominated the Long Creek big school varsity girl's division. Lee's Natalie Bowland finished in second place overall in 19:31.84. Bowland and Paige Opaska were the only two runners to break 20 minutes. Clemens finished in third place and Seguin took fourth place. Sadie Cruz of Gloria Deo Academy took eighth place overall and led her team to a sixth place finish.

            Davenport won the small school girls division with 40 points while Gonzales was second with 81 points and Pleasanton was third with 102 points. D'Vani Hernandez of San Antonio Christian won the individual title in 11:20.83 for the 2-mile race. La Vernia's Jamie Bice was second in 11:26.99 while Canyon Lake's Eva Zabarcencu and Sophie Eastland took third and fourth, respectively.

            The Poth Invitational featured eight varsity girls teams. Host Poth took the team title with 46 points and they averaged 13:30 for the 2-mile race. Katelyn Poth, Chelsea Gorzell and Brianna Holder gave Poth three top 10 finishers. Juliet Alcott of Great Hearts Northern Oaks took the individual title in 12:01.98 and Cole's Katherine Zinnante was the runner-up in 12:13.47. Great Hearts finished in third place and Cole took fourth place.

            Devine won the 5^th Annual Steve Golemon Bandera Invitational varsity boys division with 53 points. Zach Guerra (16:48.85) and Urijah Velasquez (17:04.72) finished in the top five to lead the team. Fredericksburg tied with Tilden McMullen County for second place with 80 points. Jose Ruiz earned the bronze medal for the Billies while James Trim took sixth place. Augie Cummings of Saint Mary's Hall took home the individual title in 16:17.07 and Pearsall's Serapio Vasquez and Cameron Arellano each finished in the top 10.

            Bandera and Fredericksburg were the top two finishers in the Bandera varsity girls division. Saint Mary's Hall grabbed third place behind runner-up Micah Monteleone (12:09.12) and Hannah Rivier and Gentry Monteleone who each finished in the top 10.

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