High school cross country is a sport of dynasties.
Younger athletes watch their upperclassman teammates hoist a state championship trophy and they know they want that for themselves. Just as crucially, they also saw every mile, every repeat, every tempo run and hill session, every single thing that went into making that moment possible. There's a blueprint for success, and for anyone bold enough to follow it, state titles are there for the taking.
It's why Hopi High School won 27 consecutive Arizona state cross country championships across three different size classifications beginning in the late 1980s. It's why New York's Fayetteville-Manlius girls won 11 Nike Cross Nationals titles in the 2000s and 2010s. It's why York High School won the Illinois state championship 28 times between 1962 and 2012.
And it's why, since 1993, essentially three teams have taken turns gobbling up multi-year streaks of state titles in Texas's largest division:
And it's what makes Corpus Christi King's 2005 UIL 5A championship all the more remarkable.
Decided by Depth
On an overcast and gusty November morning at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, all three of Texas's large-school dynastic programs vied for the crown, along with young and ascendant teams from Cinco Ranch, A&M Consolidated, and Flower Mound.
At the front of the pack, two all-time Texas cross country greats waged battle. Colby Lowe, a sophomore from Carroll, was undeterred by the wind and took things out hot. As he pressed away in the lead, Consolidated junior Duncan Phillips let a bit of a gap open up. But with about a half mile to go, Phillips pulled even with Lowe, and timed his kick masterfully to prevail, 15:19 to 15:21.
Some twenty seconds later, the rest of the field began rumbling in. If the individual title was a high-octane thriller with a clear outcome by the end, the team battle remained murky and nerve-racking, even after the final runners registered their finishes. Spectators, coaches, and athletes attempting a little finish-line arithmetic likely struggled to gain much clarity, but for those with particularly sharp addition skills, one thing was clear: this was going to be close.
Carroll was the first squad to see its second man come home, freshman CJ Brown in ninth overall, seventh for team scoring purposes. Consolidated's next runner, Dusty Langwell, finished 13th overall, but ninth out of runners contributing to team totals. But despite these early point totals of nine and 10, respectively, by the time both Carroll's and Consolidated's next three finishers rolled in, it improbably didn't appear either squad was going to win.
Two less-heralded teams that comparatively lacked in upfront firepower had been pouring in runners. Whether it would be Flower Mound or King standing atop the podium, there was going to be an enormous upset. This was going to be determined by depth.
The team scores were officially tabulated. Both Flower Mound and King had scored 71 points. A tie.
Technically speaking, King won the 2005 UIL 5A cross country title in the most storybook manner imaginable: because its sixth man ran better than any other sixth man in the race. But in reality, King won the championship because of the work and love its core group of seniors and juniors had poured into itself over the preceding three years.
Corpus Christi King71611151920(40)(47)
Flower Mound71412161722(51)(57)
Carroll High School8727182733(56)(60)
Consolidated10519213638(50)(65)
Katy Cinco Ranch136310144267(70)(80)In many ways their story is no different than that of all the dynastic teams we've mentioned so far: a bought-in group that held itself accountable, believed fully in its mission and its coach, Tom Castillo, and became greater than the sum of its athletic parts.
But in plenty of other ways, there hasn't been a Texas state champion in the largest classification, before or since, quite like Corpus Christi King.
The Team They Underestimated
When trying to make sense of its place in history, it's tempting to define the 2005 King team by what it was not.
But when speaking to Ari Perez, a senior on that squad who placed 15th overall and scored 11 points, it becomes clear that that's not how the members of the team view themselves or their title season, now 21 years later.
"We were well aware that we didn't have all the benefits of other programs," explains Perez. "Whether roster size (we had 21 in the entire program our senior year), facilities (if you could have seen our locker room!) or even experience (we got sixth at state in 2004 and didn't qualify in 2003 or 2002)... but we had a level of deep trust and love for our coach and for one another."
Behind that belief, Perez and his teammates shared a "relentless competitive mentality." And rather than view the various advantages held by Texas's perennial powerhouse programs as a reason to fear them, "there was a profound level of respect for the top-tier teams, and if anything we were fired up at the opportunity to go head-to-head with the best in the state, as Coach had prepared us throughout the years."
Because King's top eight runners were all seniors and juniors, they were familiar with the top teams throughout the state and had trained for years toward the goal of a state championship. And they'd also had plenty of opportunity to build a bond that transcended the sport, with each athlete filling an essential role at practice, on the bus, on the course, and everywhere in between.
In addition to Perez, the group's goofball vocal leader and typical top runner (all of the following editorializing is his), there were five other seniors and two juniors:
Perez remembers that year, and the foundation-laying years before it, as one of single-minded focus, but not of great personal sacrifice. Each guy on the team wanted to be doing exactly what they were doing.
"We were obsessed with one another, with our goal, and with the work we were very much willing to put into our craft," he says. "I'm grateful that we had rather humble upbringings and were pretty good kids, so we didn't have much else in our peripherals to distract us."
And while to the rest of the Texas high school cross country world, Corpus Christi King, State Champion might have sounded crazy, even when the gun was set to go off at the 2005 state meet, to the eight core members of that squad and their coach, there was a quiet confidence percolating toward the surface with each race leading up to it.
The Road to State
The King boys opened their season with three local invitationals on consecutive weekends. They went three-for-three, winning the first with a perfect score of 15, the second with a team total of 17, and the third in a still-respectable 24 points. King's region, then IV-5A, was generally the least competitive in the state, so while those results were encouraging, they didn't quite scream "future state champs," either.
Their next outing, however, bolstered the crew's confidence and at the very least made the rest of the state take notice of what was happening down in Corpus. At the Texas A&M Invitational, Perez beat eventual state champion Duncan Phillips to lead King to the team win, 90 points to Cinco Ranch's 95. Also in that race were teams with title aspirations like Kingwood, A&M Consolidated, The Woodlands, and Southlake Carroll.
"That meet was the first time I think we realized we had a serious chance," recalls Perez, "and we really started believing after we followed it up with a victory at the McNeil Invite a few weeks later."
King split its varsity and top JV athletes onto two competing squads for its next local meet ("King Green" vs. "King White") and in doing so nabbed the first two team spots there. They then reunited the varsity seven to put up a perfect 15 points at their district meet.
The King squad was rolling and headed into the region meet undefeated, but ran into an unexpected setback in the form of a similarly confident Del Rio team. Del Rio's tighter pack between their second and fifth scorers gave them the edge over King, 53 to 57.
"That loss very much presented some doubt, maybe for the first time all season," says Perez. "But I think it was the best thing that happened to us all season: we were pissed. I distinctly remember sitting on a roadside curb with TK after the regional results were announced. We were silent for what seemed like hours. I quipped something along the lines of 'it's funny that the team that's going to win state just lost regionals.'"
That line, of course, proved to be prophetic. King would in fact win state.
The night before King's history-making race, Perez called his teammates into a single hotel room to give each of them a chance to address the moment. One by one, the boys expressed their belief in and love for one another, regardless of the outcome the next day. Lopez led them in a passionate prayer. And Perez asked everyone to close their eyes and raise a hand if they would be satisfied with anything short of a state title.
"After a few moments, I asked them to open their eyes," says Perez. "Not a single hand was in the air."
A Puncher's Chance
There's a reason so many movies are made about high school athletics. There's drama. There's friendship. There are lessons learned. There is indescribable triumph and heartbreaking defeat. And all of it exists in a little, self-contained world that, when you're on the inside, feels all-consuming. (Add in a well-timed Explosions in the Sky needle drop and you've got yourself an auditorium full of adults weeping over a fictional high school team winning, or losing, a competition against a rival.)
The story of Corpus Christi King's unlikely state championship hits all the same notes (although evidently with more Jack Johnson). And regardless of whether you've yet to race in your first high school cross country meet or you hung up your spikes long ago, there's still something to be taken away from their accomplishment.
To the high school runner who isn't attending a traditional powerhouse cross country school but hopes to someday pull off an upset of their own, Perez says "there is always a puncher's chance, but even the chance has to be earned." Yes, cross country is a sport of dynasties. Which makes it all the sweeter when an out-of-nowhere underdog steals the crown.
And to the now-retired high school harrier with a job and bills and a favorite fading memory of racing one final meet of consequence with their best teenage pals, there's absolutely no shame in reveling in those moments. "Winning a Texas state cross country championship alongside some of my best friends was (and is) one of the best memories of my life," says Perez.
Those moments shaped the person you are today, and if you're lucky, you get to see how they shaped your teammates, long after the trophy is stored away behind glass.
Twenty Years Later
Last year, for the 20th anniversary of King's state title, Coach Castillo organized a little reunion.
Several members of the squad gathered outside of Austin to share a meal and then watch the state meet at Old Settlers Park the next day. Some of the guys still log a few miles here and there, but for the most part, running is no longer the priority. They have families and careers and other interests. And while the group has mostly remained close, there was something special about returning to the scene of one of their most formative shared memories.
"Matthew 'Money' Musquiez is still an absolute clown, Ben Haby still cracks up at everything, TK Revis still plays everything cool, Richard McDermott (Class of 2004) still makes terrible jokes, and Coach Tom Castillo is still extremely tolerant of us all," laughs Perez.
And while the mood was light-hearted and celebratory, there was also reflection, and moments of intense gratitude.
"We realized that we're now near the age Coach Castillo was way back in 2005," Perez says. They recognized that Coach Castillo sacrificed plenty of family time to coach them, and to "build us up into something bigger, relentlessly hanging onto his stubborn convictions."
That "something bigger" was a group of kids from Corpus Christi who were willing to fight for one another, and for a common goal.
And if people remember one thing from their championship run, Perez hopes it's that "all we wanted was to earn it for one another."
High school cross country is a sport of dynasties.
Younger athletes watch their upperclassman teammates hoist a state championship trophy and they know they want that for themselves. Just as crucially, they also saw every mile, every repeat, every tempo run and hill session, every single thing that went into making that moment possible. There's a blueprint for success, and for anyone bold enough to follow it, state titles are there for the taking.
It's why Hopi High School won 27 consecutive Arizona state cross country championships across three different size classifications beginning in the late 1980s. It's why New York's Fayetteville-Manlius girls won 11 Nike Cross Nationals titles in the 2000s and 2010s. It's why York High School won the Illinois state championship 28 times between 1962 and 2012.