Top state ranked teams collided over the weekend at several sites throughout the state. We are accustomed to seeing big time teams meet up in big invitationals and it's exciting. This year is definitely very different than the norm.
In the big meets, we get used to watching teams battle it out and uniform counting each mile and at the finish line.
Boerne Champion Inv.
At the Boerne Champion Invitational we saw UIL 6A No. 3 ranked San Antonio Johnson and top ranked UIL 5A hosts Boerne Champion.
Johnson senior and number one runner Taj Johnson was locked up in an individual battle with Champion senior Foster Wilfong. Not only were their teams battling for San Antonio supremacy, but they were going for individual bragging rights as well. The two dueled along the 5,000m course, but needed a photo finish to decide the winner after a too close to call sprint. Wilfong out leaned a win over Johnson as the both finished with a time of 15:15.
Johnson won out on the team front by only scoring 31 points over Champion's 45 points. Their 15:49 team average was especially impressive as was their 1:12 split. Champion had a 16:13 average and a 1:38 split.
On the girls side, the same teams lined up, but it was more of a one sided show. UIL 5A state champs Boerne Champion dominated as they were led by their top two runners Kate Williams and Chachi Gonzales. The two juniors went 1-2 with Williams' 18:27 and Gonzales' 19:01.
Only Alamo Heights' sophomore Trinity Warnicke was able to break up the Boerne train of runners with her 19:11 third place finish. The Lady Chargers' 3-5 runners soon followed as did their sixth runner in eighth place.
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Bridgeland Early Bird 2-Mile
At Bridgeland, the UIL 6A No. 6 Bridgeland and No. 8 Katy Tompkins had a showdown. Bridgeland sophomore Emily Ellis won the meet with a 11:21.08 win on the two mile course edging Tompkins' top Falcon Addison Stevenson (11:22.41). UIL 5A 2019 individual state meet qualifier Emma Little of Montgomery Lake Creek finished third in 11:38.14.
The team battle was as good as expected. Even though it was just in a two mile race, Bridgeland held up their superior ranking. They ran an impressive 12:01 team average and a 59 second split out lasting Tompkins and their 12:02 average and 1:11 split.
Two more ranked teams went at it on the boys side. State meet qualifying teams Tompkins and Strake Jesuit. Tompkins' big boost came from their number one Gavin Saacke. He finished runner-up behind a big race from Dawson's Noah Hialeb (9:39.28).
Saacke's two points were big as Tompkins only triumphed over Strake Jesuit by three point 50-53. Strake put four runners in the top 10.