Texas Boys XC Team Rankings: Post-UIL State Championship

Team Rankings

Texas Boys XC Team Rankings

Post-UIL State Championship

Where things stand after the UIL State Championship.

The in-state season is over, and we have a new 6A state champion in El Paso Eastwood, who ended Southlake Carroll's run of six straight state championships. They scored 56 points at Old Settlers Park on Friday, 12 points ahead of the defending champions. On Saturday, Austin LASA won the 5A title by four points.

Last week we predicted how each team would finish. We got the top two right, and we were within one place on Bridgeland and Vandegrift. The biggest miss was Keller, who finished third after we picked them sixth. We also picked six individual title contenders, and those six finished first through sixth. Denton Guyer's Ruel Newberry won in 14:36.3. Avinash Dewagan, Noah Garcia, Elton Martin, Kai Gutierrez, and Andrew Esparza were close behind him. This edition looks at how the race played out and what we got right and wrong.

No. 1

El Paso Eastwood

No. 1 El Paso Eastwood (El Paso, TX) Prev. No. 1 - No change

State Result: 6A State Champion

Eastwood won the title the same way they won Region I, by putting four runners near the front. Noah Garcia (Jr.) was third in 14:40.4. Noah Loweree (Sr.) was eighth, Jacob Lara (Jr.) 12th, and Ayden Betancourt (So.) 17th. Carroll had two runners in the top 13. Elias Alcocer (Sr.) closed the scoring in 36th, and the spread was 1:06.1, almost the same as what we saw in Lubbock.

Our prediction of Eastwood's victory depended on the gap between Garcia and Loweree, and Lara and Betancourt finishing close behind them. Loweree was 25.7 seconds behind Garcia, a little more than at region, but Lara finished just 9.7 seconds behind Loweree. Eastwood's scoring positions were 2, 6, 10, 13, and 25. Carroll's were 4, 11, 12, 18, and 23. Eastwood built their 12-point lead with their second and third runners. The two teams' fourth and fifth runners were almost even.

Eastwood were seventh at state in 2025; this year they beat the team that hadn't lost in Texas in over half a decade twice in two weeks. Noah Garcia and Jacob Lara are juniors, and Ayden Betancourt is a sophomore, so this team has serious potential to contend for the title again next year.

No. 2

Southlake Carroll High School

No. 2 Southlake Carroll High School (Southlake, TX) Prev. No. 2 - No change

State Result: 2nd in 6A

Kai Gutierrez (Jr.) finished fifth in 14:43.1, 2.7 seconds behind Garcia. Carroll's second runner was Jaxon Glenn (Sr.) in 13th, 36.3 seconds behind Gutierrez, and Claudio Auns was 14th, right behind him.

The rest of Carroll's lineup did its part based on what we laid out last week. Grant Norgart (Sr.) was 24th and Evan O'Donnell (Sr.) 30th, for a spread of 59.8 seconds. Carroll's fourth and fifth runners scored 41 points, compared with Eastwood's 38, which is about what we thought would be required from that portion of the lineup to win the title. 

The defending champions finished second, but they were the most consistent team in Texas all fall. They won on the national stage at Woodbridge and beat everyone all season except for Eastwood. Gutierrez will return for his senior year next year, but Glenn, Auns, Norgart, and O'Donnell will be gone. Next year's team will look very different, but if there's one thing we know, it's that Carroll has a habit of producing new talent.

No. 3 Keller (Keller, TX) Prev. No. 5 - Up 2

State Result: 3rd in 6A

Put simply, our Keller prediction was our biggest miss. We picked Keller sixth because their pack had been spreading out, from 33.1 seconds at McNeil to 1:18.2 at region. At state, it came back together. Austin Boto (Sr.) and Boston Bowcutt (Sr.) finished ninth and 10th, 3.5 seconds apart. William Washington (Jr.) and Braden Anderson (Jr.) were 40th and 41st, 0.4 seconds apart. Heath Shiflett (Sr.) closed the scoring in 64th, and the spread was 52.3 seconds.

Our concern was the middle of the lineup, and that's where Keller improved. At region, Anderson was 45.6 seconds behind Boto. At state, the gap was 41.9 seconds, and Washington was right next to him. The front two finished together in the top 10, which Keller had needed all season. With that, they comfortably finished on the podium 33 points ahead of Bridgeland to knock the Bears off the podium after three consecutive years.

Keller were fourth at state last year, so third is a step up, and a step up onto the podium too. Boto, Bowcutt, and Shiflett are seniors, but Washington and Anderson return. For most of the season, Keller's pack was their strength, and it held up when it mattered.

No. 4

Bridgeland

No. 4 Bridgeland (Cypress, TX) Prev. No. 3 - Down 1

State Result: 4th in 6A

Bridgeland's pack was tight again. Patricio Navarro (Sr.) and Dean Rosales (Sr.) finished 18th and 20th, 0.8 seconds apart, and Ilyes Benguedda (Jr.), Mark Jeffrey (Sr.), and Braxton Ramirez (Jr.) placed 53rd, 56th, and 65th. Their 30.1-second spread was the second-tightest among the top 10 teams, behind only Flower Mound.

At region, two top-four finishes made Bridgeland look like a podium team. At state, the front pair finished just inside the top 20, and Keller's pair, ninth and 10th, gave Keller the points they needed. We had Bridgeland third, and they finished fourth.

Bridgeland graduated their state medalist and almost their entire squad from last year and still finished fourth in a situation that would knock teams to the bottom third of the field. They've proven their ability to rotate talent almost better than anyone else over the last five years, so the Bears are clearly here to stay as one of the state's flagship programs.

No. 5

Austin Vandegrift

No. 5 Austin Vandegrift (Austin, TX) Prev. No. 4 - Down 1

State Result: 5th in 6A

Avinash Dewagan (So.) finished second in 14:39.8, 3.5 seconds behind Newberry. As a sophomore, he moved up from 17th at state last year. Anderson Mills (Jr.) was the second Vandegrift runner, in 42nd. Ryan Lee (Jr.) was 46th, Ewan Henricksen (Jr.) 58th, and William VanDeWalle (Sr.) 82nd. The spread was 1:33.4.

Dewagan has two more years in this program and has already picked up the torch of top-tier Vandegrift individual runners from Kevin Sanchez to Hudson Haley to Kai McCullough, and now to Dewagan. If Vandegrift can develop its pack behind him, they can win the state title. 

No. 6

Round Rock

No. 6 Round Rock (Round Rock, TX) Prev. No. 7 - Up 1

State Result: 6th in 6A

We fell victim to historical results and underestimated Round Rock by two places last weekend. Andrew Esparza (Sr.) finished sixth in 14:52.2, the same place as last year but about 10 seconds faster. Zachary Stevens (Jr.) was 25th and Leo Brasil (Jr.) 35th. That gave Round Rock three scorers in the top 35, which turned out to be more than The Woodlands College Park or The Woodlands could match.

Round Rock finished sixth last year and sixth again this year. They were the top Region IV team, four spots ahead of Schertz Clemens. Esparza finished his high school career with a win in every race he ran this fall except state. Overall, this was a very successful season for this squad.

No. 7

The Woodlands

No. 7 The Woodlands (The Woodlands, TX) Prev. No. 6 - Down 1

State Result: 7th in 6A

Elton Martin  was fourth in 14:40.8, 0.4 seconds behind Garcia. Bo Breed (Sr.) was 28th, 61 seconds behind him. Ethan Geiger (Sr.) was 57th, and William Bishop (Sr.) and James Clary (So.) finished 89th and 91st. Their score of 185 was 17 points behind Round Rock, whom we had picked to finish behind them.

Still, The Woodlands finished this season with a massive improvement over 2025, when they finished 14th. Martin had a top-flight state performance this year. Overall, we can call this a successful result in a season of improvement for The Woodlands.

No. 8

Flower Mound

No. 8 Flower Mound (Flower Mound, TX) Prev. No. 8 - No change

State Result: 8th in 6A

Flower Mound finished their season the way they started it. Joshua Shemi (Sr.), Elliot Carrier (Sr.), Damien Hicks (Sr.), Eric Cano (Sr.), and Hayes Iacomini (Sr.) finished 45th, 50th, 68th, 71st, and 78th, 19.6 seconds apart. That was the tightest spread in the 6A race. Owen Dunham (Jr.), the sixth runner, was just three seconds back.

Flower Mound beat College Park by 29 points and Atascocita by 72. A tight pack gave them a solid floor, and it was enough to finish ahead of teams with better front runners.

Last fall this group missed state as a team. This fall they finished eighth, running 19.6 seconds apart. Every scorer is a senior, so this may be the last time we see a Flower Mound pack like this for a while.

No. 9

Conroe Woodlands College Park

No. 9 Conroe Woodlands College Park (Conroe, TX) Prev. No. 9 - No change

State Result: 9th in 6A

Ryan Beken (Sr.) ran the best race of his career. He finished 11th in 15:14.2 after finishing 51st at state last year. Andrew Fry (Sr.) was 55th, Lucas Collins (Sr.) 81st, Joseph Kovach (So.) 97th, and Vasco Arredondo (Jr.) 104th. The spread was 1:15.6. College Park finished 48 points behind The Woodlands, whom they had trailed all season.

No. 10

Austin LASA

No. 10 Austin LASA (Austin, TX) New

State Result: 5A State Champion

LASA weren't on our list going into the state meet. On Saturday, they won the 5A title, 94-98 over Weslaco East. Liam Brandyberry (Sr.) was seventh in 15:28.7, and Joaquin Gonzalez (Sr.) was 12th. John Wilson (Sr.) was 29th, and Cruz Alcorta (Sr.) and Hugo Radjef (Sr.) closed the scoring in 57th and 68th. The spread was 1:08.3.

LASA won by four points without a top-five runner. Weslaco East had the individual champion, Alexander Nava, and Lovejoy's Tristan Arceneau was third. LASA won with depth. They had five runners in the top 68, and every one of them was a senior. Dallas Wilson, Lovejoy, and Grapevine finished third through fifth.

Their spot in the final top 10 recognizes a state title. Austin Lake Travis finished 13th in 6A, behind every team on this list. LASA's win doesn't change anything we said about the 6A teams, but they earned their place among the state's best.