Foot Locker South was supposed to be a combination of the best athletes from many southern states.
Participating athletes from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, U.S. Virgin Islands, and U.S. citizens in Overseas Military Installations all competed.
That makes today's performances even more impressive. The best of the best of each state competed and Texas' best totally dominated.
In the girls seeded race, Texas girls swept the top three places. The UIL 5A state champion and NXR South champion London Culbreath (McKinney North) took first place with a 17:12, Heidi Nielson (Katy Cinco Ranch) was second in 17:15, and Brynn Brown (Denton Guyer) was third in 17:17. All three girls already qualified for NXN and now have doubled down for Foot Locker Nationals.
That was just the beginning of the domination as Texas girls would drop three more girls in the top ten. Allison Wilson (5th - 17:20), Adoette Vaughan (6th - 17:21), and Ava Peeples (9th - 17:26) all contributed to the Texas dominance.
That made 60% of the top ten athletes Texas girls. Lone Star athletes would continue to finish among the top finishers as there would eventually be 12 Texans in the top 50 (24%) and 18 in the top 100 (18%). The nearest states finishes were Florida (16%), Georgia (14%), and Tennessee/Virginia (12%).
However, Texas wasn't done. When the boys took the course the Texas dominance continued.
Cruz Gomez (PSJA Memorial) won the boys seeded race with Carter Cheeseman (Fort Worth Christian) finishing second for a 1-2 Texas punch. Graydon Morris (Aledo) finished 8th place to also qualify for his third consecutive Foot Locker Nationals for 30% of the top 10 being Texans.
Tennessee had four in the top 10 for 40%, but the Texas boys would continue to rule the rest of the race. At the end, there would be 11 Texas boys in the top 50 (22%), and 19 in the top 100 (19%). The next big performance by state was Tennessee's 15 in the top 100 (15%).