Stewart Johnson
When talented and driven athletes achieve lofty goals, they begin to start thinking about the next big challenge. Such was the case for the Carroll boys cross-country team as they entered the 2023 season this past fall. Having won four 6A state titles in a row, there was no doubt the Dragon boys intended to capture their fifth. But with the level of talent and experience they possessed, winning both state and national races became the ultimate goal.
The boys team nearly accomplished the dual feat, following up a fifth-consecutive state championship in November with an impressive third-place showing at the Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon, in early December.
“With the track season that we had last year, I knew and the kids knew we had a special team and we had a chance to be really good,” head coach Justin Leonard says. “This year's team kind of felt like it was a little bit different and we had a chance to really do well at the national meet, so we set that up as a goal.”
At Nike Nationals, the Dragons finished with a team score of 138 behind first-place Herriman (83 points) and American Fork (100), two high school cross-country powerhouses from Utah. Sophomore runner Caden Leonard was the Carroll boys’ top finisher, coming in 21st at 15:36.7. Senior Jude Alvarez was next at No. 48 while junior Griffin Cords followed in 69th. The third-place finish is the second-best in school history after the boys took second in 2011.
Not reaching that goal didn’t spoil the rest of an amazing season for Carroll cross-country. Winning their fifth-straight UIL state title and ninth since 2011, the boys were led by a first-place overall finish by Caden (15:00.10), four seconds in front of second place. Junior runner Blake Bullard (fourth, 15:09.40), Alvarez (14th, 15:25.30), seniors Zach Troutman (19th, 15:30.20) and Ryan Van De Berghe (28th, 15:44.20), and juniors Griffin Cords (41st, 15:53.50) and Alex Severson (54th, 16:00.20) rounded out the rest of the state title team. The Carroll boys won six of its eight meets this season, including the Southlake Invite, the Nike South Invitational in The Woodlands, the District 4-6A meet, the 6A Region I meet, state and the Nike Regional. Carroll also finished second at the Woodbridge meet in Irvine, California, which also featured top high school running programs from across the country.
“That was our big difference with this year's [boys team] – they didn't mind who the competition was,” Justin says. “They were ready to compete.”
The Carroll girls were right in the thick of the state title race again, finishing second at state for the fourth year in a row. The Lady Dragons (77 points) trailed champion Flower Mound (41), the team that has been in the Carroll girls’ way of the title for the last four years.
“Sometimes you just run into a team that's a little bit better than you on that day, and Flower Mound has been that team,” says Justin, whose girls team last won state in 2019. “But it doesn't take away the fact that our girls have really done a good job overall the last couple of years, especially this season.”
Junior Elizabeth Smits (10th, 17:50.60) led the way for Carroll, while teammate Alexandra Walsh (11th, 17:53.70) was just behind her. Sylvia Schwedler (35th, 18:29.90), Sarayu Veluri (37th, 18:32.10), Charlotte Martin (48th, 18:44.20), Vanessa Vezga (55th, 18:52.80) and Julia Gassett (19:29.50) also competed for the silver-medal team.
The Lady Dragons won the Nike South Regional in September, securing their place at the prestigious Nike Nationals in December. Paced again by Elizabeth Smits (19:00.6) and Alex Walsh (19:01.5), the Lady Dragons placed 18th out of the top 22 teams in the country. Seniors Sylvia Schwedler (19:51.9), Charlotte Martin (20:24.2) and Julia Gassett (20:29) along with sophomore Vanessa Vezga (20:01.3) and junior Sarayu Veluri (20:04.2) rounded out another elite national performance for the Lady Dragons.
“At one point, Lovejoy was ranked fifth in the country, Flower Mound was ranked seventh in the country and we were ranked ninth in the country,” Leonard says. “If you just kind of stay in the DFW area, you can see as good a level of competition as you want.”
As reported on Feb. 15, 2024.