The top 10 was littered with Houston-area runners. And five of the top 10 teams also traveled in from Space City.
It was an out-of-this-world morning at the girls University Interscholastic League Class 6A cross country championship at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock Saturday morning.
The Woodlands finished in third place – with 133 points – for the third time in four years. The Highlanders were fifth last year.Â
Lewisville Flower Mound is a four-peat state champion with 41 points and all five runners in the top 20. Southlake Carroll was second with 77 points.
Kingwood (fifth place, 162 points), Klein (sixth, 173), Bridgeland (seventh, 175) and Atascocita (10th, 259) all had big showings on the 5K course.
Macy Wingard of Denton Braswell paced the field for a gold-medal finish in 16 minutes, 57.1 seconds.Â
Pearland senior Maddie Peters capped her incredible career with a third place finish in 17:03.3. Peters, the Region III-6A champion, took ninth last year at the state meet.
Grand Oaks senior Staucie Lees put on the best state run in her school’s history with a sixth place finish in 17:30.2, improving an 11th place finish a year ago.
Klein senior Kathryn Koonts was eighth place in 17:42.1. Koonts made a big leap from a 37th place finish last year, As a sophomore, Koontz was fifth place in 2021.
Behind Koonts was fellow Klein ISD runner Felicity Hamilton, who finished ninth in 17:43.9 for Klein Cain.
Leading The Woodlands’ bronze medal team was Stoya Laydevant, who finished 19th in 18:12. Naomi Weller (26th, 18:20.9), Lexi Cooper (40th, 18:35.1), Meredith Larkworthy (73rd, 19:10.3) and Kiersten Hua (80th, 19:14.4) rounded out the Highlanders.
Kingwood was led by Julia Shimel in 24th (18:14), Bridgeland was led by Lily Fawcett in 13th (18:03) and Atascocita was led by Summer Call in 60th (18:55.4).
Montgomery captures bronze for Bridgeland
Bridgeland junior Benjamin Montgomery kept pace at the front of the pack with a pair of Southlake Carroll runners and another from Vandegrift.
At the finish line, Montgomery became the most decorated state cross country runner in Bridgeland’s short history with a third place finish in the UIL Class 6A state championship Saturday morning at Old Settlers Park.
Montgomery, the Region II-6A champion nearly two weeks ago, was just over six seconds off the winning pace in 15:06.8. He surpassed Randy Smith’s 10th place finish in 2020 as the program’s best result at the state meet.
Caden Leonard of Southlake Carroll came across the line first in 15:00.2 while Hudson Haley of Vandegrift was second in 15:04.3.
Southlake Carroll claimed its fifth consecutive state championship with 48 points. Vandegrift was second (69 points) and McKinney Boyd was third (164).
Katy Tompkins was the top-performing Houston program with a fourth place finish (172 points), ahead of College Park (176) and Bridgeland (183). The Woodlands finished ninth with 235 points.
Parker Wood paced Tompkins with a 20th place finish in 15:30.8. He was followed by teammates Griffen Saacke (25th, 15:36.1), Austin Garcia (45th, 15:56.4), Mathias Pitzel (83rd, 16:16.4) and Aaron Ramshaw (90th, 16:20.2).
Tompkins improved vastly on last year’s 11th place finish. It was the Falcons’ eighth appearance at the state meet.
College Park had no representation at state last year and finished 13th in 2021. In their return, the Cavaliers were led by Camden Gibson in ninth in 15:19.1.
Leading The Woodlands was Tyler Hedgepath in 50th (15:59.2).
Clear Lake senior Sam Golla, the second place finisher at the Region III-6A meet, finished eighth in 15:16.1 on Saturday. He was 17th last year.
Also in the top 20 was Cypress Springs senior Manuel Vela in 11th (15:20.5).
