FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 19, 2025
Southlake Carroll Cross Country Highlight the Heralded Nike South Invitational: Jaxon Glenn and Luna Guttierez Lead the Way
College Station, TX – With close to the full varsity lineup laced up for the Dragons this week both boys and girls varsity challenges nationally ranked competition at the iconic Nike South Invitational at Texas A&M’s Dale Watt’s XC Course.
Coach Leonard stated, “We’re proud of how our teams competed this weekend at the Braswell and Nike South Invites! Splitting into two meets gave many of our runners valuable varsity experience that will pay off during championship season. Today’s race at Nike South served as a glorified practice—giving us the chance to learn the course and prepare for when it really counts in November.”
On the boys’ side, star Junior Jaxon Glenn led the squad placing 14th overall in 15:37 on the moderately challenging course for the Varsity Elite Race. Senior Michael Fuller (15:52) was close behind in 21st place followed by Claudio Auns (26th ,15:58), Grant Norgart (44th ,16:16),, Evan O’Donnell (63rd ,16:31),, and Gavin Folkerts (88th ,16:46). The team again had a tight 54 second 1-5 spread missing out on 2nd place by a hair. The 3rd place for a varsity team missing several harriers showed the strength and depth of the talent on the roster this year.
For the ladies’ Varsity Elite side, Senior star Luna Gutierrez (18:28) set the standard for the Dragons with a 22nd finish in an elite field of runners. The team finished in 6th place with Junior’s Megan Bergman (36th, 18:57), Grace McIlivain (39th, 19:01), and Abigail Perez (52nd, 19:24), and Senior Lilah Gornell (66th, 19:41) rounded out the top five. These runners will face the same course and similar competition in November for the Nike South Regional Championships to seek their 4th straight nationals qualification.
In the boys’ Varsity 5k race, the young men placed a respectable 4th in a stacked field. A solid showing by Junior Jack Swadish (23rd, 17:10) set the pace for the Carroll boys. He was followed closely by Hasan Rauf (27th, 17:13) and Dylan Torres (33rd, 17:17). There counterparts on the women’s side saw Landry Lambert (31st, 20:46), Megan Saban (54th, 21:21) and Gwendolyn Asher (56th, 21:22) perform admirably gaining solid experience as the team head into championship competition in October.
The Dragons distance crews will compete at the Jesuit XC Classic next week in Oak Park at the Prestonwood Polo Fields. For more information on the upcoming meet, link here: Jesuit XC Classic (MEET IS FULL) 2025 - Meet Information