* Nicole and Samantha Humphries finished 1-2 and led Flower Mound to a state title in the UIL Texas 6A State Championships race on Friday.
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With a slew of Texas' top distance runners -- many ranked among the nation's best talents -- set to toe the line UIL 6A Girls State Cross Country Championships on Friday morning, no clear individual title favorite stood out.
Nicole and Samantha Humphries of Flower Mound were certainly among those elite racers in the championship conversation.
But perhaps no one could have truly predicted the almost storybook-like race that unfolded as the Humphries twins went for a sweep of the top podium spots.
In less-than-ideal, stormy conditions, Nicole and Samantha raced their way to a state title and a runner-up finish in the loaded 6A girls race, each clocking times of 17:36.40.
After running with the front pack through the first mile, the juniors began to separate from the rest of the field, with fellow Flower Mound teammate Alexandra Fox not far behind them.
With less than a mile to go, it was just the two sisters racing stride-for-stride for an individual state title.
But neither Nicole nor Samantha wanted to drop the hammer on the other.
"Coming down the last stretch, we were kicking it in and I heard (Samantha) say, she was like, 'Do you want to tie?'" Nicole said. "I was like, 'Well, sure.'"
And that's nearly what the two sisters did, slowing up through the finish and each crossing the finish at Old Settler's Park in Round Rock, Texas in 17:36.40. An official review gave Nicole the slight edge over Samantha by just thousandths of a second to earn her first individual state cross country title.
6A GIRLS 5000 METER RUN FINALS PLACE ATHLETE TEAM RESULT POINTS 1 Nicole Humphries 11 Flower Mound 17:36.40 1 2 Samantha Humphries 11 Flower Mound 17:36.40 2 3 Alexandra Fox 10 Flower Mound 17:48.60 3 4 San Juanita Leal 11 Edinburg North 17:57.70 0 5 Ava Bushaw 12 Carroll High School 17:58.30 4 6 Haley Harper 12 Plano West 18:05.10 5 7 Sylvia Schwedler 11 Carroll High School 18:16.90 6 8 Shewaye Johnson 12 Prosper 18:20.10 0 9 Madison Peters 11 Pearland 18:21.10 0 10 Macy Wingard 9 Denton Braswell 18:33.30 0
That 1-2 punch, and a strong third-place finish from Fox in 17:48.60, helped Flower Mound defend its team title from 2021 and bring home even more hardware.
The Lady Jaguars scored 42 points to win over Southlake Carroll in second with 51, only a week removed from Flower Mound's narrow one-point winning margin over the squad from Carroll at the Region 1 Championships.
A meet best 18:12 team average in muddy and windy conditions made for an impressive showing from Flower Mound in what many anticipated could be a tight team battle between the two nationally-ranked Texas programs.
TEAM SCORES PLACE TEAM POINTS SCORERS TIMES 1 Flower Mound 42 1+2+3+17+19 (44+72) 1:27 1-5 Split | 18:12 Avg 2 Carroll High School 51 4+6+7+16+18 (25+41) 1:00 1-5 Split | 18:33 Avg 3 Kingwood High School 116 9+21+27+29+30 (69+87) 0:48 1-5 Split | 19:19 Avg 4 Austin Vandegrift 137 14+22+24+28+49 (51+52) 1:13 1-5 Split | 19:26 Avg 5 The Woodlands 176 11+37+40+42+46 (58) 1:17 1-5 Split | 19:44 Avg
Related Links:
UIL State Cross Country Championships Meet Page
Results - Photos - Interviews - Race Video
Seeing Double: Rise Of Flower Mound's Dynamo Distance Duo
Humphries Find Routine In Shared Experiences