Denton Guyer TX Sophomore Covers Boys 5k Race In 15:00.10; Elin Latta Hangs On For Win In Girls Race IN 17:17.30; Jesuit LA Boys, Flower Mound TX Girls Win Team Titles

By Oliver Hinson for DyeStat

DyeStat file photo

RESULTS

Denton Guyer TX sophomore Ruel Newberry stormed to the win in the boys varsity elite race at the Nike South XC Invite on Friday morning, breaking the tape in 15 minutes, 00.10 seconds.

Newberry took the race out hot, coming through the first mile in the lead in 4:29. From there, he didn’t relinquish that lead. He pulled away from Graham Hummel (Home School Athletic Association TX) in the second mile and kept a five-second gap on him for the rest of the race.

Newberry has won two of his three races this fall. On Aug. 30, he ran 14:39 to win the Marcus Coach T Invitational, and a week later, he took second to Noah Strohman (Holliday TX) at the Southlake Carroll Invitational.

In the last DyeStat individual boys rankings, Newberry was 28th. He didn’t beat any of the men ahead of him, but a win at a marquee invitational, like this one, shows that he will certainly be one of the guys to look for in the South region come November. Last year, he finished 22nd at the NXR South Regional.

Hummel finished second in 15:05.6, followed by Brady Monahan, who led his Jesuit LA squad to a resounding win with just 44 points. Monahan, who didn’t compete at any national track meets in the spring, has flown under the radar coming into this season — he was ranked 90th in the early-season boys rankings — but like Newberry, he is clearly in form, looking even better than he did when he took 11th in the South region last year.

Jesuit put all of its top five in the top 20 overall. Seniors Connor Fanberg and Joe Accardo took eighth and ninth in 15:30.3 and 15:31.2, respectively. Juniors David Quintana and Andrew Nimmo were 13th and 17th in 15:34.4 and 15:45.7, respectively.

The Blue Jays have won four straight Louisiana state titles in cross country, and they returned six of their top seven from last year. They were ranked fourth in the South region in the latest DyeStat team rankings, but their collective performance on Friday shows that they are as much of a contender as anyone heading into the bulk of the season. Their next big test will be at the Great American XC Festival in Cary, NC on Oct. 4. They finished third at that meet last year behind Belen Jesuit FL and Marvin Ridge NC.

On the girls’ side, Flower Mound TX won with 87 points, bouncing back after a tough second-place finish two weekends ago at the Southlake Carroll Invitational. Junior Adeline Bennett led the way with a second-place finish and a time of 17:29.6. Bennett is once again looking like a top contender in the Lone Star State. Last year, she finished fourth at the 6A UIL State Championships and went on to take ninth at the NXN South Regional.

Her teammate, Liana Cluley-Garza, finished sixth in 17:54.3, giving Flower Mound some solid padding. Keira Primer was next across the line for them in 19th, followed by Eliana Rivera in 41st and Megan Schmidt in 45th. Altogether, they finished nearly 40 points ahead of runner-up Northwest Nelson.

South Texas Heat Homeschool TX finished third, led by sophomore Elin Latta, who is ranked No. 3 in the national individual rankings. As a freshman, Latta finished 23rd at NXN, and she looks ready to keep that momentum rolling this fall. 

Latta’s four sisters — yes, there are five Lattas — also had impressive showings. In fact, four of them finished in the top ten. Iris Latta finished fifth in 17:38, Remy Latta finished eighth in 18:06, and Reese Latta finished tenth in 18:11.9. If the scoring had stopped at four, they would have run away with the meet, but the fifth Latta, Addyson, finished 129th. 

Further down in the team scores, The Woodlands TX won a close battle against Southlake Carroll TX. Heading into the meet, Southlake Carroll was ranked fourth in the South region, while The Woodlands was ranked fifth, but The Woodlands took fourth on Friday, while Southlake Carroll took sixth. Smithson Valley, a team that was on the watch list, slotted itself between the two, taking fifth.