Caden Leonard, Macy Wingard Maintain Texas And South Dominance With Individual Wins; Carroll XC Club Boys, Flower Mound Girls Win Team Titles

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Logan Hannigan-Downs Photos

RESULTS/VIDEOS

The Nike Cross Regional South event on Monday morning in College Station resembled the Texas state championships. 

Caden Leonard and Macy Wingard, both three-time UIL state champions, won the early-morning championship races at the new venue, Watts Cross Country Course at Texas A&M. 

Leonard, much like he did at Old Settlers Park three weeks ago, led Carroll XC Club to the team championship. That was to be expected. Carroll qualified for Nike Cross Nationals for the 17th time in the 20-year history of the national meet. 

And Leonard, who was third at NXN last year and is the highest placing returner, looked every bit like a national championship contender with his finish time of 14:37.4, a course record. 

Carroll scored 80 points and Venom (Austin Vandegrift) was second with 99 to earn the automatic qualifying berth. 

Blue Jays of New Orleans, which came in highly regarded and trying to represent Louisiana for the first time at NXN, finished third with 136 points and will have to wait for a possible at-large selection. Blue Jays was nearly even with Venom through four runners but took a big number (77) with its fifth scorer. 

Blue Jays won the Nike South Invitational XC25 earlier this year, a meet that included Carroll but not Leonard, who was out with an injury. 

Sophomore Ruel Newberry of Southside Track Club finished second in 14:42.3. That was nearly 18 seconds faster than his winning time at the Nike South meet on Sept. 19.

Ethan Locke (unattached) was a surprise at third in 14:44.4. Locke was the TAPPS 2A state champion in Texas, competing in the private schools association. 

Brian Burns of Bentonville XC (Arkansas) finished fourth in 14:45.6, leading his team to a fifth-place finish. 

The Oklahoma state champion, Dominic Matthias, qualified for nationals in fifth place in 14:52.6. 

Carroll's Kai Guttierez and Venom's Kai McCullough finished sixth and seventh and both have their spots assured with teams berths, so the final individual spot went to Noah Strohman (unattached) in eighth.

Wingard was able to get past Elin Latta of Latta Pack and reached the finish line first, 16:53.5 to 16:55.0, both going well under the course record. Latta had previously won the Nike South meet in 17:17. 

Laney Barnes (unattached), the Texas 6A runner-up behind Wingard, finished third in 16:57.0. Addyson Bristow of Canyon CC Club, the Texas 4A champion, finished fourth in 17:06.4 in her second 5,000-meter race of the season. 

Oklahoma champion Ava Cornelius ran 17:07 for fifth place and the final individual qualifying spot for NXN. 

The close team battle in Texas this season between Flower Mound and Bridgeland was revived again Monday. 

This time, Flower Mound, with Adi Bennett eighth and Liana Cluley-Garza 11th, came out on top with 71, points. 

Bridgeland, which beat Flower Mound for the state by three points, finished second with 89. 

Katy Red of Texas (third palce in Texas 6A) was third with 160 points and Rogers XC of Arkansas was fourth with 163. Rogers' Lilly Beshears, the defending individual champion at NXR South, finished ninth.