Texas 6A Cross Country: Carroll’s Dominance Continues
For years now, Southlake Carroll has dominated the Texas 6A Cross Country landscape. Nobody has been able to knock them off their perch at the top. This year may be no different, but it looks like their usual challenger, Austin Vandergrift, will not be the team pushing them. This year it appears that Bridgeland will be the team pressuring the Dragons behind Griffen Saacke.
In my opinion, the individual race is a two-man race. Griffin Saacke and Caden Leonard. Anyone with common sense would pick Leonard in this scenario, however, the North Carolina commit has not raced much this season, having only competed at the district and regional meets, so it is hard to really know where he stands. The reality is this is probably a great strategy for Leonard considering he expects his XC season to last through early December. The two-time defending champion knows what he needs to do for the three-peat. Obviously the goal is NXN and maybe getting a U20 World Championships spot.
As you can see, my top-10 shows Saacke over Leonard, based on converted Regional times, but that is just a number. I personally give the edge to Leonard. The biggest surprise for this list is the lack of Kai McCullough or any Vandergrift Viper. Despite the team win at Regionals, the individual results just weren’t there. Maybe they were holding back for state this year, but I personally think they just aren’t as deep. Kai has also had varied results late in the year the past few season. I am by no means saying he’s not one of the top XC runners in the state, but I’m just not sure he’s among the top-5 right now. Could he come up with a monster race at state? Of course, but only time will tell.
| RUNNER | TEAM |
|---|---|
| Griffen Saacke | Bridgeland |
| Caden Leonard | Carroll |
| Ruel Newberry | Denton Guyer |
| Griffin Hummel | Austin Bowie |
| Kai Gutierrez | Carroll |
| Camden Gibson | Conroe Woodlands College Park |
| Sean Gonzalez | Schertz Clemens |
| Andrew Esparza | Round Rock |
| Noah Loweree | El Paso Eastwood |
| Layton Carlisle | Bridgeland |
As for the team results, I see it as a two-team race with Carroll holding an edge. Based on the converted Regional results, it looks closer than I think it will be. My feeling is that Carroll runs like the team we know and wins a bit more comfortably. Where it does get interesting is how will the rest of the podium flush out? My model doesn’t vary much from the coaches’ poll before regionals with Keller sneaking in for the third place spot. EP Eastwood could make a surprise jump into third, but they would need a season best from their four-five runners. I think the same can be said for Vandergrift, College Park and Franklin.
TEAM PREDICTION
| TEAM | SCORE |
|---|---|
| Carroll | 74 |
| Bridgeland | 79 |
| Keller | 102 |
| El Paso Eastwood | 160 |
| Conroe Woodlands College Park | 170 |
| El Paso Franklin | 173 |
| Austin Vandergrift | 221 |