Dragons Capture District 4-6A Championship
Leonard, Walsh win individual gold medals
SOUTHLAKE, Texas – The Southlake Carroll boys and girls cross country teams successfully defended their District 4-6A titles at Bob Jones Park on Thursday morning. It is the 14th consecutive district title for the boys, and the fifth in a row for the girls.
“I’m very proud of our young men and women,” Head Coach Justin Leonard said. “We work hard all year to prepare for the championship season, and district titles are the first step. We’re looking forward to carrying this momentum into regionals.”
In the varsity boys’ race, sophomore Caden Leonard won the individual district title with a time of 14:56. Senior Jude Alvarez finished second in 14:59, and junior Blake Bullard finished third in 15:12. Senior Zach Troutman finished fourth in 15:13, followed by junior Alex Severson (8th, 15:40), senior Ryan Van De Berghe (9th, 15:41) and junior Giffin Cords (11th, 15:50).
In the girls’ competition, senior Alexandra Walsh won the individual district title, finishing in 17:40. She was followed by junior Elizabeth Smits (5th, 18:06), sophomore Vanessa Vezga (7th, 18:15), junior Sarayu Veluri (9th, 18:24.4) and senior Charlotte Martin (10th, 18:24.6). Seniors Sylvia Schwedler (15th, 18:48) and Julia Gassett (28th, 19:51) were the Dragons’ other finishers.
In the final JV race of the season, Dragon boys finished one through five, leading Carroll to the district title. Senior Brady Golomb finished first in 16:03, followed by junior Ryan Krasinski (2nd, 16:21), senior Carter Haskell (3rd 16:32), junior Caleb Lo (4th, 16:33) and senior Michael Kovach (5th, 16:49). Also finishing in the top 10 were freshman Adhavan Palanivelrajan (7th, 16:51) and sophomore Michael Fuller (8th, 16:51).
In the girls JV race, junior Carmela Bell crossed the line first in 19:35, leading the Dragons to a second-place finish behind Northwest Nelson. Junior Gabriella Tesoriero finished fourth in 19:44, followed by sophomore Luna Gutierrez (6th, 19:59), senior Kylee Cusick (9th, 20:10), junior Mia Lay (11th, 20:19), senior Lucy Pettigrew (13th, 20:28) and senior Lauren Sims (15th, 20:35).
The Dragons now advance to the Region 1-6A meet in Lubbock on Oct. 24. The boys will be aiming for their sixth consecutive regional championship, and the girls will look to improve on their second-place finish from a year ago.