Texas
No. 4 ranked Carter Blunt will look to defend his Class 5A state title. (Photo by David Everett)
Round Rock, TX | 8:30 AM - 3:10 PM Central | Texas MileSplit coverage
Notable individuals: No. 4 Carter Blunt, No. 6 Julia Heymach, No. 24 Ashton Endsley, Abby Gray, Madeleine Reed
Notable teams: No. 18 ranked The Woodlands boys, Southlake Carroll boys, No. 22 Marcus girls, Kingwood girls, Southlake Carroll girls
No. 4 ranked Carter Blunt is on Year 2 in his official reign as the king of Texas high school distance running. He won the Class 4A crown for Frisco Heritage as a junior in 15:48 and the Class 5A race for Frisco Independence last year by nearly 20 seconds. Rest assured he will make this a three-peat - it's only a question of: by how much? Blunt is undefeated this fall but has raced sparingly, so state could be an indicator of his fitness as he guns for another All-American showing at Foot Locker Nationals.
With Pre-Season No. 1 Paige Hofstad out of the equation due to injury, the path to a state title got a whole lot easier for No. 6 ranked Julia Heymach. The now-junior placed third last year behind Hofstad and Devin Clark (C/O 2015) before going on to NXN. Heymach is undefeated this season with a PR of 16:42 over a short course three mile to make her the most dominant distance runner in Texas this fall.