Dallas-area cross country regional meets.
Demetrio Teniente
FORT WORTH — Against a field loaded with some of the finest runners from the Houston area, Wylie freshman Eliana Williams surprised even herself by winning the Class 6A girls individual title on the opening day of the UIL Region II Cross Country Championships on Monday morning at Rolling Hills Park.
“I was very surprised,’’ said Williams, who posted a personal-best time of 17 minutes, 49.3 seconds on the rather flat 5K course. “I ran here early in the year and didn’t like the course. I think my time was 18:30. But I liked it today.”
The top four teams and the top 10 individuals not already on an advancing team qualify for the state meet Nov. 6-7 at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock.
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Williams stayed near the back of the lead pack for the first half of the race, then began to pass runners until there was no one left in front. She had a nine-second cushion over the nearest competition for her fourth victory of the season.
“It was a fun day,’’ said Williams with the gold medal in hand. ‘I’m proud of myself.”
Making history
The Mansfield Lake Ridge boys became the school’s first team to qualify for the state meet with a fourth-place finish in Class 6A. The school opened in 2012.
“These guys had the drive and determination,’’ Lake Ridge coach Chris Hayes said. “They ran for each other.”
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The top two Lake Ridge finishers, seniors Joseph Young (15:25.5) and Carter Harlan (15:37.5), both broke the previous school record.
The point margin over fifth-place Sachse was a slim five points.
Back to back
Wylie East never had a cross country team advance to state until its girls did last year. Now Luke Scribner’s team will be going back after holding off Klein Oak by three points for fourth place.
“The experience of going through it last year definitely helps,’’ said Scribner. “Last year we were happy just to go. Our quality one through five makes us a better team than last year. This is the first time in five weeks we’ve had all of our top runners available.”
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Just as last year, Evangeline Williams paced Wylie East with a fourth-place time of 18:09.7. As a sophomore last year, the transfer from California finished runner-up at regional and seventh at state.
Peaking at the right time
Coming off a victory at district, Sachse senior Samuel Ledbetter expected a strong performance and got it with a personal best time of 14:58.3 for a bronze medal in 6A.
“My fitness is high at the moment,’’ he said. “I tried to go out in a nice rhythm and after a mile I was around 30th, then I started passing guys. This is a breakout year for me.’’
Back in 4A, back to state
Kaufman’s boys team, back in Class 4A after two years in 5A, nailed down its 16th trip to the state meet in the 20 seasons with Denver Stone as coach.
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“The experience of 5A was good for us,’’ Stone said, “but it is nice to be competing against schools our size.”
Kaufman had to settle for second place, even with placing three runners in the top 10. Sanger, ranked No. 1 in 4A, placed five runners among the top 16.
New year, new site
For the third consecutive year, the meet is at a different venue. It concludes Tuesday with defending Class 5A girls state champion Lovejoy going for its seventh consecutive regional title in the opening race at 9 a.m.
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Region I
Fastest two-mile in Texas history
Denton Guyer’s Ruel Newberry ran the fastest high school two-mile time in Texas history in June after the UIL track season was over, finishing in 8:46.69. So it wasn’t a surprise Monday when he won the Class 6A Region I cross country title in Lubbock by running 5,000 meters (3.1 miles) in 14:35.50.
Newberry, a junior, beat runner-up Noah Garcia from El Paso Eastwood by 13 seconds and finished nearly 15 seconds ahead of third-place Kai Gutierrez from Southlake Carroll. Gutierrez, who finished fourth at state last year, had finished first or second in his other four races this season.
Newberry has finished in the top four in all but one of his races this season and placed second at state last year, running 14:49.0. Southlake Carroll’s Caden Leonard, winner of the last three 6A state titles, graduated, so Newberry will be the favorite going into state this year.
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The Carroll boys finished second as a team, five points behind El Paso Eastwood. Carroll has won seven consecutive team state titles — a record for the UIL’s top classification. The overall state record is eight straight state titles by Luling from 2010 to 2017 in Class 2A and 3A.
The Flower Mound girls won the 6A Region I title by 48 points over Keller and finished 72 points ahead of third-place Carroll. Flower Mound senior Adeline Bennett won the individual regional title by running 5,000 meters in 17:31.30, and teammate Liana Cluley-Garza took second in 17:34.50.
The Flower Mound girls finished second at state last year, just three points behind Bridgeland. That ended a streak of five consecutive team state titles for Flower Mound.
Bennett placed fourth at state last year, running 17:28.9. The Texas A&M pledge won for the second time in three races this season.
Coppell senior Maya Easterwood, who is committed to Oklahoma State, finished fifth Monday in 17:55.00. She was third at state last year and has finished in the top seven in all four of her races this year.
The Carroll girls will be going to state for the 30th consecutive season — a UIL record — and the Carroll boys will be making their 17th consecutive appearance.