Leachman Runs 16:07 To Win NXR By Nearly A Minute; Carroll XC Boys And Girls Secure 15th NXN Appearances; Flower Mound Girls Roll; Bentonville Boys, Joseph Bariola To Represent Arkansas At Nationals

By Doug Binder, DyeStat Editor

Carroll XC not only advanced boys and girls teams to Nike Cross Nationals for a record 15th time apiece, the boys put down one of the most dominant regional performances in history Saturday at Bear Branch Park in The Woodlands, Texas. 

Led by sophomore Caden Leonard's third-place finish, Carroll put together a 1-5-7-9-12 combination in the team scoring and scored 34 points. That's even lower than the 48 that the team put on the board to win the Texas UIL 6A championship two weeks ago. 

VIDEOS

Carroll's five scorers fit into a 26-second window, between Leonard's 14:55.8 and Griffin Cords' 15:21.6. 

Bentonville XC of Arkansas struck a blow to Texas' NXR South invincibility when it finished second with 103 to earn just the second non-Texas automatic qualifying berth on the boys side. 

An even bigger surprise was Joseph Bariola (unattached) of Arkansas, the state's Class 5A champion, beating defending champion Adam Burlison by 1.3 seconds and winning the individual title in 14:52.9.

"I feel so happy. I don't know how I did this," Bariola said. "I just got done running, so this might sound stupid, but this is like the best day of my life."

Sophomore Elizabeth Leachman, the Texas 5A champion, got out aggressively from the gun and pulled away from the field in the girls championship race, cruising to a sensational time of 16:07.6 and won by 56 seconds with the type of performance that indicates national championship potential. 

Flower Mound XC Club went 1-2-3 in the team scoring of the girls standings with Samantha Humphries (fifth overall in 17:23.3), Alexandra Fox (seventh overall in 17:35.0) and Nicole Humphries (12th overall in 17:49.9) leading to a score of 40 points and a return to Nike Cross Nationals. 

Carroll's girls booked their 15th trip to nationals by finishing second with 78 points. 

Leachman finished 49th at the regional meet as a freshman in 2022 and her one-year improvement has been astounding. She was more than three minutes faster than last year, albeit in better racing conditions. 

San Juanita Leal (unattached) was second in the race in 17:03.0 with Texas 6A champion Macy Wingard next in 17:06.4. Madison Peters was fourth in 17:16.3. 

Staucie Lees earned the fifth automatic qualifying individual spot, and was sixth overall. She had also finished sixth in the Texas 6A final. 

Lovejoy XC Club, led by Sara Morefield's 13th place, finished third with 115 points. 

The boys race brought together strong teams from outside Texas, including Deer Creek XC Oklahoma, Crusader Harriers and Jesuit New Orleans of Louisiana, and Bentonville. 

Venom XC of Texas was the second-ranked team in the region but the Austin-area club got buried early and was 13th after the mile. Even with a drastic climb to third place with 125 points, the club couldn't overtake Bentonville.

James American Horse was 14th overall to lead Bentonvlle, which put five scorers across the finish line between 15:15.7 and 15:57.6. 

Burlison, who spent the fall playing football at Amarillo High, took the lead in the second mile and tried to power away. But he couldn't shake Leonard and Bariola and the three of them were all still in it with 500 meters to go. That's when Bariola made his move and took the lead and he was able to kick to the victory. 

Danny Torres of Eastwood Running Club (Texas) was fourth and Ben Montgomery of The Land XC was fifth. Sixth, and also earning an individual qualifying spot, was Hudson Haley of Venom, who worked his way up from 73rd place at the mile.