Usual suspects from Texas take aim at NXN 

By Adam Kopet of DyeStat

The Woodlands and Southlake Carroll. The two most dominant boys programs in Texas are at it again, looking to return to Nike Cross Nationals.

The state of Texas dominates the NXR South Regional, both in quality of competition and population. And these two programs once again figure prominently at Saturday's meet at The Woodlands.

Last year's regional meet was heavily affected by rain and mud, slowing the runners by two minutes or more. This year, the weather forecast calls for thunderstorms on Friday, giving way to sunny skies on Saturday with highs in the mid 60's and 40 percent humidity. It will be much, much better than 2015.

The Woodlands boys look well primed to repeat as NXR South Region champions. Last weekend, the Highlanders placed three runners in the top nine in the Texas Class 6A state meet, led by senior William Hunsdale in fifth. Their score of 51 points was less than half that of second place.

While The Woodlands appear to be on their way to another trip to NXN, the race for the second automatic spot is close. Southlake Carroll finished second to The Woodlands at state, but finished only one point ahead of Flower Mound, 123-124.

Southlake Carroll is led by senior Reed Brown. He was fourth last week. Flower Mound benefited from the second place finish of sophomore sensation Alex Maier. Either team could prevail in the race for second on Saturday.

Three other teams have reason to enter NXR South with confidence. Northwest Nelson, Kingwood and El Paso Eastwood scored 141, 143 and 149 points respectively. They are within striking distance of Southlake Carroll and Flower Mound.

In the girls race, Southlake Carroll and The Woodlands figure prominently, but Keller holds the favorite label after beating Southlake Carroll at state, 44-84. While it can be argued Southlake Carroll had an off day, it still would have been hard to beat Keller.

The Indians placed four runners in the top 14, led by Abbey Santoro in third and Julia Black in fifth. If they can repeat their state meet performances, they will be hard to beat.

While Southlake Carroll looks like it has the best shot at second place, there are several teams who will be looking to crash the party. The Woodlands finished third at the Texas state meet with 127 points. Marcus, another historically strong program, scored 143 points, placing it within striking distance.

This year there are two Texas 5A schools that could also make a run at a high NXR South finish in the girls race. Randall and Prosper have hovered on the edge of a top five region ranking for much of the season. Randall beat Prosper by four points. They could be in the mix on Saturday.

Individually, little has been decided on who the best girl in the South Region is. Senior Julia Heymach of Lamar won her second straight 6A title, but she will not be competing, favoring a bid for Foot Locker instead. Ashton Endsley, a senior from Abilene, finished second to Heymach and won NXR South last year. She will be looking to repeat.

However, there is a freshman on the horizon who will be looking to upset the apple cart. Running for 5A McKinney North, London Culbreath has yet to race against Heymach or Endsley this season, although she has twice run in the same meet, just in a lower division. Both times, Culbreath has run the fastest time of the day. She won the 5A state title in 17:06, besting Heymach's 17:12.

On the boys side, all the major players will be competing at NXR South. Senior Sam Worley of Comal Canyon is the favorite after winning the Texas 6A title in 14:40. Daniel Bernal of El Paso Eastwood, Brown and Hunsdale have also earned big wins this season, all of whom finished in the top five last weekend.

Maier has finished second six times in seven meets, but always against Nike Elite campers Brown or Worley, and usually by a very narrow margin. Look for Maier to try and turn the tables on the seniors on Saturday and put his newfound experience to use.