Southlake Carroll girls, Flower Mound boys win NXR South

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

More hot temperatures in Texas produced some slightly unpredictable results Saturday at the NXR South Regional at Bear Branch Park in The Woodlands, Texas. 

RESULTS

The No. 4-ranked Keller TX girls, two weeks removed from a blowout win in the UIL Class 6A state final, was upset by Southlake Carroll. 

Whereas on Nov. 4, Keller put three runners ahead of Southlake Carroll's first, on Saturday Southlake Carroll put five ahead of Keller's fourth. 

Southlake Carroll scored 68 points to Keller's 82 and both earned automatic qualifying berths to Nike Cross Nationals. 

London Culbreath, a sophomore from McKinney North ranked No. 8 nationally, won the race in 17:33.5. Other qualifying individuals were Carrie Fish of Frisco Liberty, Quinn Owen of Lewisville Marcus, Ashlyn Hillyard of Plano and Allison Wilson of Montgomery (all Texans). 

In a tight boys race, No. 27 Carter Cheeseman of Fort Worth Christian edged out No. 4 Alex Maier of Flower Mound by less than a second, 15:34.0 to 15:34.9.

However, it was a good day for Maier all around. His team upset the form chart and won the NXR South title with 77 points. Southlake Carroll was second with 88 points to lock down its 11th NXN berth. 

Flower Mound had finished eighth at the Texas state meet, partly because Maier dropped out of the race with a breathing problem. In his stead, teammate Jarrett Kirk had won the state title. On Saturday, Kirk was sixth overall. Maier and Kirk were 1-4 in the team scoring, giving the team an advantage up front. 

The Woodlands, ranked No. 1 in the South all season, finished behind El Paso Eastwood and took fourth. 

Individual qualifiers include Cheeseman, Cruz Gomez of PSJA Memorial TX, Ace Castillo from Tuloso-Midway, Gavin Hoffpauir of The Woodlands, and Arkansas Class 7A champion Camren Fischer of Fayetteville AR.