* Southlake Carroll (TX) enters the Team South Regional meet as a top team contender.

Photo Credit: Jan Smits/MileSplit Texas

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South

At the Team South Regional at The Woodlands on Saturday, Texas' best will likely provide the meet highlights and duke it out again,  just a couple weeks removed from the competitive Texas UIL State Championships.

Let's begin with the team race, where some of the top-ranked teams hail from Texas.

One of the nation's top teams all season -- Southlake Carroll (TX) -- comes into the race off a Texas UIL Class 6A state championship win and an overwhelmingly strong and consistent regular season. Highlights include a third-place finish at the Woodbridge Classic, a dominant win by 88 points at the Chile Pepper Festival and a sweep of the district, region and state championships.

Carroll may have been one of the strongest teams throughout the entire season, but the team in the South region that had arguably the best performance at state was Grapevine in the Class 5A division. The squad won by over 50 points and put three runners in the top 25 to take home the 5A title, led by state individual runner-up Adam Burlison.

A performance like that could give Grapevine all the momentum it needs to earn a nationals bid tomorrow.

Austin Vandegrift (TX) also comes in as a favorite after achieving it's best team finish of the season at the Class 6A state meet with a runner-up placement, only behind Carroll.

And with some of the South's top teams in New Orleans Jesuit (LA) and Bentonville (AR) opting for RunningLane over Team Nationals, that opens up more opportunities for teams to slide into the group battle. 

Teams like Coppell (TX) and The Woodlands (TX) that went 3-4 at the UIL Texas Class 6A state meet could find themselves in contention for the top two at regionals. Keep in mind, too, that The Woodlands will be competing in their own backyard at Bear Branch Park just a mile down the road. 

On the individual side, Texas Class 6A state champion Kevin Sanchez will be a favorite for the regional title, and he knows what it takes to get a nationals bid. He placed 11th at the Eastbay Cross Country Championships last season in a competitive South region, so he's been through a nationals qualifying process before.

But looking at the other guys among the field, frankly anyone could come away with one of the five bids.

A long list of Texas talents leads the top entries in the championship race, including Class 4A champion Angel Sanchez from Fort Worth Diamond Hill, Class 2A title-winner Connor Bartek of Goldthwaite and TAPPS runner-up Marcelo Parra of San Antonio TMI.

It's hard to pinpoint who will come out on top on the given day in a state as deep as Texas.

Other athletes to watch include 6A runner-up Jack Boyd of Klein Oak; Wyatt Athey from Denton, who finished fourth at the 5A state meet and has gone 14:56.29 for 5k this season; and sub-15-minute athletes in Hudson Bennett from Burnet, Carroll's Jude Alvarez, Reese Vannerson of Houston Strake Jesuit and Caden Thurman from Wolfe City.

Any one of those guys could come away with an automatic qualifying bid to nationals based on their speed and placement among Texas' best throughout the regular season.

MileSplit50 South Regional Rankings:

1. New Orleans Jesuit (LA) *

2. Southlake Carroll (TX)

3. Grapevine (TX)

4. Austin Vandegrift (TX)

5. Bentonville (AR) *

* Not competing at Team South Regionals

Team South Team Predictions

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Team South Individual Predictions

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