The Battle For Texas
The state of Texas had two huge meets this weekend the McNeil Invitational, which is the same course as the state meet and Nike South. Both races give teams crucial looks at these big championships meet courses.
We'll start things off with the McNeil Invitational at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, Texas. McKinney North junior London Culbreath was back at it again Saturday when she raced to victory in the girls gold race. Culbreath threw down the US No. 2 time for 5K 16:36.86. Placing second was Ashlyn Hillyard who also dipped below 17 minutes clocking in at 16:51.70. The team battle was won by Prosper (TX). The team scored 137 points for the win.
The boys race was a showdown the state of Texas has been waiting for, featuring MileSplit50 No. 3 Graydon Morris aginst MileSplit50 bubble athletes Haftu Knight and Cruz Gomez. In his first major matchup of the season, Gomez pulled off the upset over Morris clocking in at 14:48.66. Morris would ultimately finish third running 14:54.10. Knight ended up coming in second 14:53.99 also pulling off the upset over Morris who beat him earlier in the year at the Marcus I. The Katy Tompkins (TX) guys took the team win scoring 211 points.
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Over in The Woodlands at Bear Branch Sports Park, the teams from Flower Mound (TX) were showing everyone they are ready to roll. The Flower Mound boys took the win in the Elite boys race scoring 47 points. The team was led by Jarrett Kirk who ran 14:51.50 for the win. Kirk was followed by La Porte's (TX) Ryan Schoppe in 14:52.90 and his teammate Alex Maier in 14:53.50.
The girls race was also dominated by a pair of Flower Mound athletes in freshmen Natalie Cook and senior Anastaysia Davis. They finished one-two running 17:36.70 and 18:13.30, respectively. Their team took home the win scoring 36 points.
So a big question now is what does all this mean for the state of Texas? One thing for sure the team title in both the Class 6A races seems up for grabs. This year nothing has been guaranteed. On the boys side, Flower Mound looks strong but the guys from El Paso Eastwood also picked up a big win this weekend at the Desert Twilight XC Festival. Katy Tompkins had the win at McNeil which also can't be overlooked. In the girls class 6A battle, Flower Mound also looks strong but Prosper winning McNeil really shakes things up. Southlake Carroll looked like the strongest girls squad in Texas after their showing at Woodbridge but they ended up finishing second. It's going to be interesting to see which teams will be ready come November.
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