Texas 6A Cross Country Predictions?

Next year, Grapevine will be better than any 6A team except SLC

It is very possible. They lose a top runner and no good #5 yet, but many 6A teams are in even worse shape. Also keep in mind that Saturday was maybe 15-30 seconds faster than Friday. If Grapevine can get a #5 and 6 well into the 16's then yes.

It is hard to even pick a 2nd place 6A team as they're all losing good talent and depth. Only 1 runner in the Top 8 isn't a Senior and that was Freshman Caden Leonard.

I think Grapevine will find a 5th. Rayon was their only returner from last year and they were able to find a 3/4/5. All of them were jv last year. And they got a solid transfer who is now their #1.
they have a whole year to find a 5th guy

I think second place will be Vandegrift again. They only return their 2/3/4 but they also have Schick who scored for them last year but only ran 1 race (jv conference) because he was hurt or something. He has a whole year to get himself back. They also have another freshman (Blaut) who was sometimes in their top 7. But 2 seniors took his 6th and 7th spot. That’s a good way to finish a cross country career.
And every year they seem to get a freshman who scores. So they will find a 4/5 and be fine.

Third place will probably be Katy Tompkins. They did pretty well and return everybody

Vandegrift’s scorers are all in different grades, which helps for their future. They will be a team to watch for the next few years.

they made a huge jump from last year when they got third to last. That was also their first state meet appearance. They had so many seniors scoring too!

I didn’t even expect them to make podium. Especially being such close second to Carroll. They lost to teams like Round Rock. Sounds like they peaked here. They will make nxn if they can replicate this and close the 4-5 gap even more, and if Jesuit sticks with Runninglane

I listened to Kevin Sanchez’s interview and he said that nxn is their goal

If Atascocita closed the 4-5 gap they still would have missed the podium by 1 point. It would have been Coppell 127, and Atascocita 128 if Coppell’s 4-5 gap stayed like it is now

It really shows how competitive 6A is this year

Off performance from Freeman, Bullard, and Cantu. Maybe at Nike South we will see a better team performance.

Cantu has quit running and will be hibernating. Hopefully David Fisher can replace big bear catfarts!

Wonder if Fisher is in top shape and the coaches put him in the championship race. He was their #1 last year but has been sick or injured when the season started.
Seems like Carroll is becoming vulnerable even at the South region without Jesuit LA racing.
Ortiz has been their distant 7th this whole season so it wouldn’t make much of a difference if he was taken out of the top 7 to put Fisher in. He was usually their 6th last year.

I'm not sure you can say any performance at State was off except maybe Ortiz and there were signs at Regions. Rare for at least one runner not to be a little off. Friday times were 15-30 seconds slower than Saturday because of the conditions and it isn't a fast course anyway, so don't read too much into the times. Leonard had a break through performance, was that his first time in the #1 scoring spot? Alvarez raced great +3, Cantu +12, Bullard +20, and Freeman +23. I think a 23 second spread in those conditions and a tough course was a good performance by Southlake.

Fisher is a great talent, but for whatever reasons he has been about 30 seconds off his performances last year while the team overall is faster. I think the coach got it right for the top 7, Ortiz certainly deserved that 7th spot. If you analyze the backups there are several that had good individual performances, but most missed a few meets (assume injuries) and no one really consistent, at least more than Ortiz.

If anyone out of top 7, it will be VERY hard to pick the backup! Based on Districts Van de Berghe was 12 seconds ahead of Fisher with no one pushing him in the JV race, which was the same time as Ortiz being pushed in the Varsity race. Downside he was out most of the year and 12th on team Chile Pepper and 10th Woodbridge.

Fisher #1 last year. This year out a few races. 7th Southlake Invite with a couple not racing. 13th team Chile Pepper. 6th Woodbridge. 9th Districts.

Otherwise Golomb (9:32 3200), Severson (14:45 Woodbridge 4th Team), and Litwin (14:54 Woodbridge 7th Team) have all shown top 7 type potential.

Good problem for Southlake to have!

Southlake returns a solid core group of 4 varsity guys, Golomb, VandeBerge, and Severson. That’s a deep top 7 for next year. They could maybe challenge for a national title.

Jesuit LA has a guy similar to Dylan Fisher’s situation.

This weekend at regions, last years #1 Vocke lost to a bunch of their JV guys. He’s only a junior though so he got 1 more year

They sat out their 1-5 (3 of them being seniors) from this race. it also looks like their JV would not win state so they need to run their varsity at state (same week as NXR)

la.milesplit.com

LHSAA D1 - Region 3 2022 - Boys

MileSplits official Boys formatted results for the 2022 LHSAA D1 - Region 3, hosted by Brother Martin in New Orleans LA.

Link:la.milesplit.com/meets/487595-lhsaa-d1...

This didn’t age well

Is this the first time Round Rock Westwood went to state?
Also, has Stony Point ever made state before?

Vandegrift should work on not just finding a solid 4-5 but a solid 6 and 7 next year as well, in case someone gets injured, so that it takes some pressure off of their top 5.

They bring back their 2-4, Schick (who scored last year but is JV this year), Blaut (incoming soph who ran some varsity races), and maybe another new freshman next year will be up there. Vandegrift always has one that scores. They will just need to find one more person (a 7th man)

Maybe they'll just have more private coaches transfer their kids in!

Based on these rankings, I don’t think that the Milesplit crew knew this

South region rankings:
1. New Orleans Jesuit (LA)
2. Southlake Carroll (TX)
3. Grapevine (TX)
4. Bentonville (AR)
5. Austin Vandegrift (TX)

Jesuit - 2
Southlake Carroll - 9
Grapevine - 19
Bentonville - 32

Wow Bentonville brings back 5 guys above 169 speed rating next year

it will straighten out after next Saturday, I expect Austin to beat Grapevine with a little margin to spare. that said I'm really impressed with Grapevine how they bounced back strong from the senior losses.