Running alongside his teammates at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, Friendswood senior Zade Kayyali finished his high school cross country career in resounding fashion Friday.
Kayyali took sixth place in the UIL Class 5A state championship race, clocking in at 15 minutes, 30.50 seconds. The four-time state qualifier took 21st as a freshman, 26th as a sophomore and 16th as a junior. Kayyali shaved more than 30 seconds off his state time from last year.
Friendswood was the top Houston-area team, finishing seventh with a score of 183. Lucas Lovejoy took the state title with a score of 56, beating out runner-up Georgetown by 53.
While Kayyali was the leader of the pack for Friendswood, the Mustangs also received a strong performance from sophomore Aiden Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, who took 40th as a freshman, jumped up to 11th this time around with a time of 15:35.50.
Sophomore Cooper Thompson (84th place, 16:51.80), junior Austin Rhea (100th, 17:04.60) and sophomore Aiden Lowery (101st, 17:04.70) rounded out the team’s scoring runners.
Richland senior Ethan Gonzalez was the individual state champion with a time of 14:55.80. He beat out the rest of the field by about 25 seconds.
Barbers Hill junior Aiden Faz was next in line among local runners, taking 19th with a time of 15:53.50. Kingwood Park junior Elijah Merino was 21st at 15:56.40, and Dayton sophomore Jaxon Asbill was 26th at 16:03.20. Fulshear junior Ibrahim Dawelbeit finished 32nd with a time of 16:10.90.
Haros leads Houston-area girls
Magnolia West senior Valerie Haros was the top Houston-area runner in the Class 5A girls race. She finished 30th with a time of 19:05.00. Haros, who was 38th last year, shaved 35 seconds off her state meet time as a junior. She capped her career as a four-time state qualifier and moved up in the standings each year.
Kingwood Park senior Elina Bailey was second in line among local runners, taking 39th place with a time of 19:16.50. She ran about 11 seconds faster than last year when she finished 31st. Bailey was a three-time state qualifier during her career.
La Porte senior Penelope Rios finished 43rd with a time of 19:21.00. She also qualified for state as a sophomore in 2021. Lake Creek junior Brooke Marshall finished 51st at 19:29.30, and Friendswood sophomore Addison Sapp was 57th with a time of 19:37.20.
Boerne Champion sophomore Elizabeth Leachman won the state title with a time of 16:25.50, beating out the rest of the field by about nine seconds. Lucas Lovejoy took home the team championship with a score of 40. That was 41 points better than runner-up Aledo.
