Over the next few weeks we will be getting in mileage (for most) of the girls. Those who are sprinters and hurdlers will move into those groups as we prepare for the Track and Field season which is just around the corner.

Practices will be at LHS all week, and we will be done at the bell each day.

Please keep in mind that if your athlete is Varsity level (track or XC) that we will practice over Spring Break and athletes are expected to be there. We will have our home meet on March 9th. (sprints and field will be at Rock Hill on March 7th) Athletes will have off Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and we will resume practices on Wednesday, March 13th.

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Angel Fire Boys Camp — June 24-29

Mark your calendars for the 2024 Boys Angel Fire Running Camp. June 24-29.

CLICK HERE to sign up.

$50 - $100 Deposits can now be sent in to Greg Christensen. He will need to make deposits this week / early November, so please send in deposits if you are able to.

Greg Christensen
PO Box 231
Angel Fire, NM 87710

You may also Zelle deposit to Greg via his number 214-507-9137. Please mark Lovejoy XC so he knows what team the payment is for.

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

THSCA Academic All State

Congrats to our seniors who made the Texas High School Coaches Association Academic All State Team!

• Joe Bluestein — 2nd Team
• David David —1st Team
• TJ Koch —1st Team
• Andrew Poulton —2nd Team
• Max Sanchez —Honorable Mention
• Johnathan Woulfe —1st Team
• Nick Yarad —2nd Team

Nick Yarad Signs with US Military Academy at West Point

Congrats to Nick Yarad for signing with West Point! He will be running cross country and track for the Black Knights in the fall!

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

Everyone looking fancy at the banquet!!

Athlete of the Week

Kaylee Martin ... wow! Comeback kid! She was having an outstanding pre-season and was then hit with 2 unfortunate incidents resulting in a concussion and a softball sized ankle. However ... upon her return she showed that she was ready to go. Kaylee had her best race ever at the State meet — which is really pretty rare for a first-time-to-state racer. Last year her best race was NXR ... so I'm hoping we see an even bigger performance next week from this gal. Her commitment to running has taken off this past year, and even better, she is an outstanding teammate. She REALLY wants to pull through for the team! Only a sophomore, we still have a lot of great things to come from Miss Kaylee!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Today's conditions at Old Settlers Park were about as good as Lovejoy has ever seen. Temperatures started off at 48°F for the 5A girls race and reached about 55°F by the end of the 5A boys race. Wind and clouds were negligible. Recent rains softened the course nicely and closed any cracks, yet caused no noticeable mud patches.

Apparently the Lovejoy community was expecting big things — everyone showed up for this morning's races. Not bad for a Friday. The Lovejoy runners were presented with their medals by LISD Superintendent Katie Kordell and LHS Principal Travis Zambiasi.

The runners' times indicate that today's State course may have been longer than in previous years. Historically the State course has been a little short, but during their shakeout run on Thursday, the Leopard runners measured it as a regulation 5K course. No watches were allowed during the actual Championship races.

The 5A Girls State Championship race proved more of a challenge for Lovejoy than expected. Not much of a challenge, just more of a challenge. The Leopards won comfortably (see dot chart below).

The individual championship was won by Boerne Champion sophomore Elizabeth Leachman (1st overall, 1st in scoring at 16:25.5, a PR and new course record for the girls) as expected — she's currently ranked #2 nationally. Cedar Park senior Isabel Conde de Frankenberg (2nd overall in 17:34.2) has been battling injuries all season but still managed a great race.

And then came the Leopards. Lovejoy's two hammers, Sara Morefield (3rd overall, 2nd in scoring at 17:54.4) and Camryn Benson (4th overall, 3rd in scoring at 17:55.3) started off the scoring at 5 points, and both earned individual top-10 medals. FYI, Amy Morefield's best finish at State was also 3rd overall. This is the first time Lovejoy has had two runners finish under the 18-minute mark at State since the girls first started running the 5K distance in the 2012 season.

Senior Peyton Benson (9th overall, 6th in scoring at 18:21.1) also earned a top-10 medal and left the Leopard score at 11 points as a set-up for the closers.

Kailey Littlefield (13th in scoring at 18:41.5) was running in tandem most of the race with Bridget Bernal (16th in 18:56.3) before Bridget fell off her pace a bit in the last mile.

Lovejoy had plenty of insurance with Campbell Lester (28th at 19:28.2) and Kaylee Martin (19:30.8). In fact, even if you substitute Campbell and Kaylee's finishes for Kailey and Bridget's, then Lovejoy still wins. Good depth. Looking further, Campbell and Kaylee both turned in better times today than any of Lovejoy's #6 and #7 runners did in the 2021 and 2022 State Championship races. So comprehensive improvements for the girls.

So why did Lovejoy score 40 points when last year they achieved a ridiculously low 28 points? Aledo (2nd with 81 points) put up a good fight. They spliced their runners in between Lovejoy's with a 5-9-14-26-27 order of finish. Georgetown and Colleyville Heritage also threw a couple runners into the early mix. So even though the Lovejoy girls had a top-5 average time of 18:21.7 which was 10.9 seconds faster than last year's 18:32.6 average, their point total was 12 points higher today. The level of competition varies from year to year.

Aledo ran 2 freshmen and 5 sophomores meaning they will be back next year with an even faster, more experienced team. Rumor has it that Aledo may get bumped up to 6A next year causing trouble for Southlake Carroll and Flower Mound.

[5A girls results]

The 5A Boys State Championship race was the best the Lovejoy boys have raced as a team all season. They turned in a #1-#5 split time of 38.1 seconds which was more than enough to significantly outdistance Georgetown and its 82.0-second split time. Lovejoy scored 56 points and was the only team under 100 points. Georgetown and Boerne Champion took the other two podium spots with 109 points and 133 points respectively. Friso Wakeland just missed with 154 points.

While Georgetown caused a lot of pre-race concern, the Lovejoy boys' 53-point margin of victory was larger than the Lovejoy girls' 41-point margin over Aledo. It all came down to team running: Lovejoy had 6 runners score in the top-20, while Georgetown had 3 runners score in the top-10 but their #4 and #5 runners finished 45th and 49th in scoring. Ouch! Many a coach has died the death of a thousands cuts waiting for their #4 and #5 runners to finish at State. You can get away with large split times at District and oftentimes at Region, but not at State.

Note that Lovejoy had no top-10 overall finishers, but still won handily.

Senior Nick Yarad (6th in scoring at 15:37.8) and Caden Gary (7th in scoring at 15:46.6) made a move in the 2nd mile setting themselves up for great scoring finishes. Lovejoy's wild card in this race was Joey Reid (12th in scoring at 15:56.6) because he had not run at State before, but the sophomore didn't show any first-timer hesitations. Will Carlson (14th in scoring in 16:03.6) was only 4.8 seconds slower than his time last year at State — a great result for Lovejoy. And then Aaron Wimbish (17th in scoring at 16:15.9) locked down the championship for the Leopards.

Depth also showed for the Lovejoy boys with Devin Muaina (20th in scoring at 16:20.1) and Henry Bennion (27th in scoring at 16:29.1) finishing well before any of the other teams got their #4 and #5 runners in. An interesting "footnote" about Henry (ha ha) is that he lost his right shoe about 1000 meters into the race, which undoubtedly slowed him down. With both of Henry's shoes on, it's quite possible that all 7 Lovejoy runners would have finished in the top-20 in scoring. No other 5A program comes close to the depth that Lovejoy enjoys.

[5A boys results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

The boys have a more competitive landscape, and the differences between the four Region courses provide enough variability in the results to mean that Lovejoy could have a very competitive State Championship race on its hands.

Not surprisingly, Frisco Wakeland appears to be the biggest challenge, and let's hope the Leopards dispose of Wakeland as they have 3 times already this season (kind of ridiculous to have to beat a team 4 times in a single season). Georgetown has a couple of fast scorers to start off with, but then they have to wait for their #3 through #5 to finish their scoring. They typically have a 90-second split time, and that anchor should be enough for Lovejoy to beat them.

For historical reasons, it will be very satisfying for Lovejoy to beat Argyle. In the early years, Argyle was McKinney North, Wakeland, and Grapevine all rolled into one school. It took until 2010 to finally best them.

Reading with the Leopards

I'm very proud of and grateful for our group that went to the Reading with the Leopards at Hart Elementary on Friday! The NXR group had a workout that morning, but we still had a strong turnout to represent us!

Spirit of a Leopard

Congrats again to Jim on receiving the Spirit of a Leopard Award on Friday! We are so grateful to Jim and his huge contributions to our program year after year!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

CLICK HERE for the 5A Boys results.

CCCAT All Region Team (Top 15 Finish)

• Caden Gary
• Nick Yarad
• Joey Reid
• Aaron Wimbish

Attending State on Friday

If your runner is planning to attend the State Championship on Friday - please let me know and we will try to get them excused from school on Friday.

Runners planning to attend on Friday will need to wear their Black Lovejoy Cross Country shirt and black warm up pants.

Spirit of a Leopard Award

A big congrats to Jim McGuinness on winning the Jim Bob Puckett Spirit of a Leopard Award this year!

This special award is presented each year honoring an individual who passionately supports Lovejoy Athletics. Jim has been Lovejoy Cross Country's biggest supporter over the years. We can not thank you enough for all of the awesome photos, team history, banquet slide shows, and everything else you do for the program!

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

Carly Littlefield

Another thanks to team spirit coordinator Rachel Dobbs and her family for making us another fun Championship sign!!! Shout-out to Junior Spirit coordinator Cate Jackson on stepping up her sign making as well! All of the girls brought signs, face paint ... very awesome!

BEST TEAM/SPIRIT CREW IN TEXAS!!

Peyton Benson

As if winning Regionals isn't exciting enough ... I would love to share the news that Peyton Benson has decided to continue her academic and running career at Oklahoma University!!! Congratulations to this awesome young lady!! We are so proud of her!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.
4-PEAT REGIONAL CHAMPS!

Carly Littlefield

Unlike prior years when the 5K course at Lynn Creek Park had to be altered, today the runners enjoyed the official and intended layout. So the times are quite reliable.

Both the girls and boys advance to the UIL 5A State Championship races to be run on Friday morning, November 3rd in Round Rock TX. For the boys, it's now 16 years in a row they've qualified for State as a team. Another record for Lovejoy athletics.

An amazing collection of parents and other relatives showed up, arguably the most complete assemblage in Lovejoy's Region history. LISD Athletic Coordinator Kyle Herrema was in the house, as he always is for the UIL XC Region Championships. Still, for a pair of 24-team races plus individual qualifiers, the meet seemed surprisingly uncrowded.

In the 5A Girls Region II Championship race, Lovejoy tied its 2022 score of 18 points as the girls ran away with 1st place. Wakeland finished 2nd with 99 points — that's an 81-point gap between 1st and 2nd place.

Senior Sara Morefield (1st overall in 17:46.57) won the individual championship, a well-deserved accomplishment. Camryn Benson (2nd in 17:51.76) was right behind Sara most of the race before Sara extended to a 5-second lead in the final 1000 meters.

Lovejoy's perfect score was broken up by Liberty senior Sydni Wilkins (3rd in 18:10.33). She is an excellent runner and was expected to finish in the top 5.

But then Lovejoy brought the hammer down: Bridget Bernal (4th in 18:41.31) coming from behind to edge out Peyton Benson (5th in 18:41.52) at the finish line. Bridget is a particularly strong and aggressive closer. Once again Kailey Littlefield (6th in 18:48.86) made up a lot of ground in the final 600 meters to beat Prosper Walnut Grove's #1 and help the team match last year's Region score.

Campbell Lester (12th in 19:20.18) may have run Lovejoy's smartest race today — an edgy, consistent pace. Nice to have Campbell healthy for Championship Season. Today's race was an off one for Kaylee Martin (26th in 20:22.59) who started falling behind the scoring pack with about 1500 meters left and looked to be struggling at the finish.

Lovejoy's 62-second split time may look a little high at first blush, but that's only because Sara and Cam were so far out in front. Lovejoy's top-5 average time of 18:22.07 was by far the best in any of yesterday's 5A Region championships. The next best was Aledo (19:03.0) in Region I. Similarly Sara and Cam were two of only three 5A Region runners to break the 18-minute mark. The other was Elizabeth Leachman (16:50.61) of Boerne Champion in the Region IV Championship.

The four State qualifiers from Region II are Lovejoy (District 13), Frisco Wakeland (District 9), Frisco Liberty (District 10), and McKinney North (District 13). As an FYI, Sherman (District 13) finished 13th, so the District 13-5A girls all performed well at the Region II Championships.

[5A Girls results]

The 5A Boys Region II Championship race showed much greater parity with only Lovejoy (45 points) breaking the 100-point mark. And 2nd place Frisco Wakeland (114 points) was the only other team to break 150 points. That's a 69-point gap between 1st and 2nd place. McKinney North (5th) and Melissa (9th) proved District 13-5A is the boys toughest Region II District.

Caden Gary (2nd overall in 15:21.23) was in a battle the whole race with Neeraj Kulkarni (1st in 15:19.48) from Frisco Lebanon Trail and Judah Alexander-Macias (3rd in 15:23.94) from Frisco Memorial. Nick Yarad (5th in 15:52.61) gave Lovejoy another sub-16-minute time.

Joseph Reid (10th in scoring at 16:00.16) came so close to the 16-minute mark, and was quickly followed by Aaron Wimbish (12th in 16:02.23).

Will Carlson (16th in 16:16.64) led the scoring pack for much of the race before Aaron moved up closer to Joey, and our #7 runner fell back. Will definitively closed-out the scoring with the strongest finish of any Leopard today. Henry Bennion (20th in 16:27.12) was only 10.47 seconds behind Will. Devin Muaina (46th in 17:03.09) was previously averaging 16:07 for 5K races this fall, so today's time is an anomaly.

Lovejoy's 55.42-second split time is respectable, and the top-5 average time of 15:54.48 is more than 30-seconds better than what the other three Region champions turned in ...

• Region I = El Paso @ 16:40.6
• Region III = Georgetown @ 16:29.2
• Region IV = Boerne Champion @ 16:43.0

But that will all be tested at State in 11 days on a tougher but shorter course (historically speaking). We'll give the details on the other State competitors in a later article.

[5A Boys results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

Region II Girls

The Lovejoy girls turned in a top-5 average of 18:52.6 at District doing their tempo run. Only two other Region competitors broke the 20-minute mark: Friso Liberty (19:46.0) and Frisco Wakeland (19:55.0). So Coach Littlefield could have her girls do another tempo run at Region and still win it comfortably.

Texas MileSplit agrees that Lovejoy should have no trouble winning Region. CLICK HERE for the article (membership required).

Region II Boys

Lovejoy's guys won't have it so easy. Specifically Frisco Wakeland has the ability to make things interesting, although Lovejoy should still take the championship without too much effort.

The Leopards went head-to-head against Wakeland at Fall Fest with Lovejoy winning the score battle 141 points to 346 points, the average time battle 15:44 to 16:23 and the split time battle 34 seconds to 48 seconds. The relative results were similar at the Southlake Carroll meet on August 26th. So with a little focus, the Lovejoy boys should win their 8th straight Region II Championship.

As with the girls, Texas MileSplit definitely favors the Lovejoy boys to win Region.

And this is all just informed speculation — we won't really know until after Monday's races.

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.

CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Runners not advancing to the Regional Championship will have a 1600M time trail on Tuesday this week and a 5K time trial at Celebration Park the week of 10.23.23. Those who have qualified for the Nike South Regional Championship on November 18th will continue to train through that date. Those that did not qualify for the meet will take a two-week break from running in preparation for the Track and Field Season. I will have conversations with the team this week on who will be attending the Nike South meet.

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

CLICK HERE for the full results.

TEAMWORK AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL IN THESE TWO PHOTOS. THIS IS HOW YOU WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS!

JV GIRLS LOOKING FIERCE ON THE STARTING LINE!!

Practice GOING FORWARD

ALL athletes who are done will have next week off and be done after 8th period. I'll send out further info next week. NXR and State groups will continue training.

We will have a 1-mile time trial for all who are done next Tuesday 8th period.

Athletes of the Week

• Lily Sanders is passionate about running and improving. She asks questions, trains hard, and is always looking for ways to get better. She has had a great season with many achievements. With her dedication and desire to improve along with track season to work her speed, she will have a big jump next year.
• Sofia Dominguez is one tough cookie. She found out a few weeks ago that she has a stress fracture in her back, but she wanted to try and race through it ... and she did. Stress fractures can cause great, shooting pain ... but she managed to work through it and complete the race at District despite the pain. Sofia had an unbelievable season, running a solid number 6 for us and creating a very small gap between our 5th and 6th runner. While we will miss not having her on the line at State, I know that she is going to have a breakout track season and come back stronger than ever next XC season! She will be on a mission! **don't worry — she had doctor's permission that she could run and not make the fracture worse!!
• Jocelyn Chapman has been a steady and solid runner for the past 2 seasons now. She has had great ambition since I've known her when she was in 7th grade. She had a great District meet and won the bronze medal in the JV division. She will be a key factor in next year's season with her consistency and experience as we lose our seniors and will need girls to step into those roles. I look for her to make a big leap this track season and be an important contributor in 2024.
• Macy Moore has been in our program for 6 years! She is quiet and calm and ALWAYS smiling! Macy had her best season this year, running a new PR and racing with consistency across the season. She has been a major factor in our program with her kindness, work ethic and leadership by example.

Rankings

THIS IS PRETTY COOL. OUR JV TEAM IS THE HIGHEST RANKED TEAM (IN ALL CLASSIFICATIONS) IN THE STATE! This is pre-district.

Of course XC courses are all different ... long, short, flat, hilly, etc. ... but these are still exceptional times and show the depth of our team.

CLICK HERE for the full MileSplit TX article.

LATEST NATIONAL DYESTAT RANKINGS MOVED LOVEJOY VARSITY GIRLS UP TO #6.

CLICK HERE for the full DyeStat article.

1. Niwot CO
2. Air Academy CO
3. JSerra CA
4. Lone Peak UT
5. Mountain Vista CO
6. Lucas Lovejoy TX
7. Ventura CA
8. Buchanan CA
9. Southlake Carroll TX
10. Union Catholic NJ
11. Tatnall School DE
12. Corona Santiago CA
13. Flower Mound TX
14. Lincoln OR
15. Saratoga Springs NY
16. York IL
17. Jesuit OR
18. Cardinal Gibbons NC
19. Los Altos CA
20. American Fork UT
21. Downers Grove North IL
22. North Allegheny PA
23. Assumption KY
24. Cuthbertson NC
25. Barrington IL
26. Webb School of Knoxville TN
27. Wayzata MN
28. Prospect IL
29. Bethlehem Central NY
30. Boise Senior ID

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.
CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

So to summarize, Lovejoy won ...

• 4 of 4 1st place team trophies
• 3 of 4 individual championships
• 31 of 34 possible top-10 finisher awards (medals and "certificates")
• 5 of 8 special awards

The Varsity runners (both girls and boys) were on a much needed tempo run today after three hard, competitive meets leading up to District — Fall Fest, Cowboy Jamboree, Chile Pepper. The Varsity Leopards were not out to set any land-speed records today. This is meant as no disrespect to the other District teams. But Lovejoy is competitive against top 6A teams in the southern U.S. region, and so a 5A District meet does not require an all-out effort. The Varsities needed to rest up for State and NXR South.

The JV races were a different matter, and in their efforts to outrace each other, the Lovejoy runners had no trouble surpassing the runners from other District schools on their way to "uber" perfect scores (all the top-7 runners were Leopards in both races). Again, no disrespect intended, but Lovejoy XC is one of the premier cross country programs in the country, which means quality and great depth.

Below is a matrix of the scores of the top 3 teams in the four races. They qualify to compete at the Region 2 Championships on October 23rd at Lynn Creek Park in Grand Prairie.

The District 13-5A XC competitive landscape has seen a shift this year. The table below shows how many runners finished in each of the four races. McKinney North brings a competitive team every year and has historically been Lovejoy's main concern heading into District. But today the Melissa Varsity boys were a surprise competitor, and there's every reason to expect more from the Cardinals in the future. But note the size of Melissa's JV squads: 5 girls and 2 boys. They really need to add runners in order to achieve a sustainable team. On the other hand, look at Sherman! That's turned into a large-scale program which could well challenge for District titles in the next few seasons. Similarly for Princeton.

Sadly, the Denison and Greenville XC programs appear to have been neglected by their ISDs. That's hard to understand at the 5A level.

Lots of parents attended along with the much-appreciated Lovejoy trainers. No administrators were spotted.

The Varsity Girls District Championship race went off first with Lovejoy's top-10 nationally ranked girls comfortably winning. The order of finish and individual times are not particularly noteworthy since the girls were not pushing themselves as they will at State and NXR South. For a statistical comparison, Lovejoy's top-5 average time today was 18:52.6, while at Fall Fest 24 days ago on this same course that average time was down at 17:59.8. The most exciting moment came at the finish when senior Kailey Littlefield (5th in 19:12.8) got in a footrace with McKinney North's #1 runner in order to preserve the Lovejoy girls' perfect score. Kailey succeeded — that's what seniors do.

Sherman surprisingly came in 3rd ahead of Melissa.

[VG results]

The Varsity Boys District Championship race mirrored the girls with the Lovejoy guys winning comfortably, but not pushing it. The Fall Fest top-5 average time was 15:44.1, while today it was 16:25.6. The guys were not as tightly packed as the Varsity girls at the finish, but you can't argue with a 12.2-second split time. The individual championship was won by Melissa's Logan Tauch (1st in 16:00.7) who was about 2.8 seconds behind his Fall Fest time. Note that at Fall Fest, Caden Gary (3rd today in 16:20.8), Nick Yarad (4th in 16:21.0) and Joey Reid (5th in 16:21.8) all easily beat Tauch. But today was not about being unnecessarily fast.

Lovejoy has always had to think about McKinney North when preparing for District. Coach Richards runs a solid program, and North only becomes a bigger challenge during Track & Field season. But this year the Lovejoy boys also encountered an up-and-coming Melissa team that finished 2nd ahead of North. And then there's Sherman's future.

[VB results]

And next came some real racing.

The JV Girls Championship race was all Lovejoy with the Leopards taking 17 of the top-20 finishes including all the top-7 finishes for an "uber" perfect score. Several PRs for the Myers course. Compared to the top-5 average time of 20:17.0 at Fall Fest, today's improved a bit to 20:11.9.

Today the battle between Sophie Brooks (1st overall in 19:40.1 and the District champion), senior Kate Carlson (2nd in 19:50.6) and Rachel Wheeler (4th in 20:32.2) was joined by Jocelyn Chapman (3rd in 20:05.3). The best competition our JV runners have at District is each other.

Also breaking the 22-minute mark were Talia Orshalick (5th in 20:51.6 and the photography staff's 2023 District Freshman of the Year) who closed out the scoring and secured the championship, Harper Jaynes (6th in 20:53.6), Cailee Horinek (7th in 21:08.7), Mia Reaugh (9th in 21:48.6), and Mia Binnings (10th in 21:54.9).

On an unfortunate note, several JV girls were absent because their families took a Fall Break vacation this week. For a JV runner, cross country season all builds toward the District Championships — there is no tomorrow. To miss District diminishes a JV runner's season.

[JVG results]

The JV Boys Championship race was even more lopsided due to the unprecedented depth Coach Kelly enjoys this year. Lovejoy has always had deep XC teams, but this year the boys have set a record. The competition had no chance in this race as Lovejoy clobbered McKinney North, Princeton, and Sherman by a score of 15-50-85-116, which looks closer than the race actually was.

Liam Dunleavy (1st over in 16:41.2 and the District champion) had a strong race, and finished only 1.6 seconds behind the Varsity's #7, Joe Bluestein. Tyler Morefield (2nd in 16:49.2) has improved his times greatly this season. The photography staff's 2023 District Freshman of the Year, Tristan Arceneau (3rd in 16:59.9) cruised in ahead of a real battle to see who would be 4th, 5th and 6th.

Best battle at the end of a race was between JT Reid (6th in 17:27.7), Andrew Poulton (5th in 17:26.6), and Joe O'Brien (4th in 17:24.7). Andrew came up from behind JT, and Joe came up and surprised them both. This serves as another example of Lovejoy being its own best competition at District.

Shortly thereafter, Adam Morefield (18:59.9) and Ty Muaina (18:58.6) added another end-of-race battle and overtook a Princeton runner in the process. And a final noteworthy battle took place between Max Sanchez (20:09.6) and Knox Tokarz (20:14.6).

[JVB results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

The Lovejoy girls comfortably won the El Caliente Girls 5K race with a score of 124 points which isn't all that high when you consider that 83 teams and 648 runners finished this race. The 2nd place team scored 219 points, and the last place team scored 2,526 points. Coach Littlefield had her top-8 runners in the race and no second team. The race was split into two heats with the top/competitive teams running together in heat 1.

Individual winner Haley Lowe (1st overall in 17:03.1) from Bentonville finished 2nd in the Elite Varsity Girls race at Fall Fest two weeks ago. The winner of the EVG Fall Fest race finished 2nd today: Macy Wingard (2nd in 17:08.2) of Denton Braswell. Because of the split heats, these two did not directly race each other today as they did at Fall Fest, and neither was pushed in their respective Chile Pepper heats.

Sara Morefield (4th in 17:46.4) continues to lead the girls. Peyton Benson (132nd in 18:01.3) had her best race of the year. She ran the race alongside Camryn Benson (13th in 18:07.6). Bridget Bernal (31st in 18:40.7) looked a little tired but held up her end of the scoring. A number of the Lovejoy girls looked a little tired today after 3 straight weekends of full-throttle racing. Kailey Littlefield (64th in 19:11.4) was 57.9 seconds behind her Fall Fest time.

The 1:25 split time was higher than you'd like, but the average was quite good. More on that later.

Campbell Lester (83rd in 19:23.4) also had a solid run for the second straight week. Kaylee Martin (96th in 19:36.2) was back in action this week. Sofia Dominguez (21:44.7) had an off day which happens.

[ECG results]

Again this week Coach Kelly elected to enter two squads in the top race, the El Caliente Boys 5K race. Both squads performed at a high level. "Team A" finished 3rd to Deer Creek (the winner at OSU's Cowboy Jamboree) and Bentonville (the winner at Fall Fest). Their scores of 113-141-178 set them apart from the other 107 teams which scored in the range 275-3,260. The "B Team" finished 15th which is amazing considering the size of the field.

Caden Gary (14th in 15:41.0) and Nick Yarad (22nd in 15:51.2) again led the team. And once again Joey Reid (39th in 16:03.6) and Aaron Wimbish (49th in 16:11.8) were in the top-5. Henry Bennion (54th in 16:16.9) had a nice bounce back from last week and sewed up the scoring. Devin Muaina (79th in 16:27.8), Joe Bluestein (125th in 16:50.1) and Will Carlson (16:59.7) were the final A Team runners.

Coack Kelly has a very tough job to do in this next week in selecting his top 7 for the District Varsity race on October 10th because his B Team runners turned in some very competitive times again today: Tyler Morefield (96th in 16:37.0), JT Reid (97th in 16:37.1), Liam Dunleavy (128th in 16:51.2), Tristan Arceneau (156th in 17:01.1), Joe O'Brien (168th in 17:05.3), Jack Thompson (204th in 17:15.6), Ethan Murray (210th in 17:18.6) and Andrew Poulton (17:18.8). Only EJ Morrow (18:11.9) can be said to have had an off day.

This has been the challenge for Coach Kelly all season: how do you separate such a great group of runners between Varsity and JV for Championship Season. Unfortunately UIL rules don't allow 12-15 runners on the Varsity in championship races. Coach Kelly will probably be awarding more Varsity letters to the boys this fall than were awarded in any other XC season in program history.

The table below averages these boys' times for the last 3 meets and sorts them accordingly. No adjustments have been made to account for course distances or anything because they all ran the same courses under almost identical conditions. Several other factors need to be considered, such as Joe Bluestein has only had one race back, as has EJ Morrow. And there are other subjective factors. In most years the decision is clear cut. This year it will not be an easy decision for Coach Kelly.

[ECB results]

Coach Littlefield ran her 2nd Varsity and other top runners together in the Open Girls 2-Mile race. The original distance was 5K, but both of the Open races were reduced to 2 miles because the "hot" weather that was causing problems with so many runners that the U of Arkansas trainers couldn't keep up. But the temperatures for the El Caliente races started at about 65°F and rose to 80°F at the end of the El Caliente Boys race. There was also a nice breeze (about 8 mph). Anyway, all the times for the Open races are for the 2-mile distance.

The ongoing WWE SmackDown between Sophie Brooks (1st overall in 12:16.6) and Kate Carlson (3rd in 12:23.7) continued as these two serve as each other's best competition. Rachel Wheeler (7th in 45:47.9) joined the fray with Lovejoy's other top-10 finish.

Talia Orshalick (12th in 12:59.4) and Harper Jaynes (15th in 13:04.5) completed Lovejoy's scoring at a meet-low 38 points. Natalia Martinez (19th in 13:13.5) and Mia Reaugh (27th in 13:21.3) left Lovejoy with an enviable order of finish: 1-3-7-12-15(19-27) in a field of 574 runners and 55 teams. Fort Smith Southside finished 2nd with 125 points.

The Iron Lady award goes to senior Macy Moore who ran in the heat of the Varsity Girls race at the Blue Ridge Invitational on Thursday and then ran again in the Open Girls race at the Chile Pepper on Saturday (wearing Rachel Dobbs' bib). No other Lovejoy harrier in program history has raced in two meets in a single weekend.

[OG results]

Lovejoy's 3rd contingent of boys ran in the Open Boys 2-Mile race which was the morning's largest race (all runners in a single heat): 869 runners and 77 teams. The El Caliente races were split between two heats. The guys finished a very respectable 8th out of 77 teams. They also were down a runner because Tristan Arcenau got bumped up to the El Caliente race.

Lots of senior leadership shown by TJ Koch (10:57.2), Ethan Smith (11:06.1), and Jonathan Woulfe (11:23.7). Then Arjun Sharma (11:26.7), Adam Morefield (11:32.0) and Adam Rogers (11:32.4) put all of the Lovejoy runners in the scoring top-100 of this over-sized race.

And when the Open races were over, the temperature was 86°F. Still, the next set of races for junior high runners got reduced to a 2K (1¼ miles). In all honesty, it just wasn't that hot, especially compared to the Blue Ridge meet on Thursday.

[OB results]

Looking ahead to the UIL District Championships on October 10th, the Leopards are odds on favorites to win all 4 races and again sweep the awards. Both the boys and girls are so deep that the coaches could put their top-7 runners in the JV races to do tempo runs, while their #8 to #14 runners could go on to win the Varsity races. The top-3 teams in the District Championship qualify for the Region II Championships. Can't wait to see the District lineups.

UPDATE: although it may have been a difficult decision, Coach Kelly is not one to dawdle. He has already selected the following for Varsity at District (listed alphabetically): Bennion, Bluestein, Gary, Muaina, Joey Reid, Wimbish, Yarad. And that puts the other 39 boys in the JV Championship race. Heaven help the competition.

The girls ultimately want to get back to NXN in Portland which means they need to get through NXR South where their two biggest opponents are expected to be Southlake Carroll and Flower Mound. Both of those teams raced at the Nike South this weekend. Assuming the Arkansas and Bear Branch courses are comparable, here's how the three teams compare based on this weekend's results.

Flower Mound has the lowest average because their top two runners have extremely low times (with Nicole Humphries still not running yet). But runners 3-5 ratchet up their team score and split time which is why Southlake Carroll is able to beat them. The Dragons are oddly consistent with their times which explains their low split time. Lovejoy has a nice balance of the two metrics, which should give the Leopards the edge. The inside scoop is that whoever ends up 3rd at NXR South stands a good chance of getting an at-large bid to NXN just like last fall. But you can't count on that.

The boys are focussed on winning State which they haven't done since 2017. It's time. We know about most of the top 5A teams, and there are some teams definitely capable of beating Lovejoy. But if the guys run their race, they'll come out on top. One unknown (as usual) is Grapevine because they don't race their top runners during Competition Season. So in researching their history, the top candidates for Grapevine's true Varsity are listed in the following table along with their XC 5K PRs (regardless of when achieved).

The table is sorted by the PRs and the average and split-time calculated using the top-5 PRs. Those are arguably good targets for the Leopards if they want to be sure of beating Grapevine at State. We'll get a clearer picture once the District and Region results are in and the true Grapevine Varsity has shown itself.

It's now Championship Season and all the work that started last May now comes down to a handful of championship races.

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

JV Athletes of the Week

Our Blue Ridge runners were truly amazing last Thursday. That course was no joke.

• Berkeley Mosel had her best Cross Country race to date. She ran so strong and came up with a big finish for the team. She has improved so much this season, and I know she's ready to get on the track and run fast!
• Cate Jackson ran in our #4 spot in the varsity division on Thursday and looked phenomenal. She is so coachable! When you give her feedback in a race, she immediately responds. There was a terrible uphill at Blue Ridge ... I told her to attack it ... and that she did! She passed about 20 runners and moved up to help her team clinch the win! Great race for this amazing young leader and excellent teammate!
• Addy McCaffity is one of our superstar hurdlers on the track. She is running XC to help with her strength and stamina for 300s. She has improved DRASTICALLY this year and her mindset is stronger with each of the workouts she tackles. She ran an outstanding race and earned a medal in the JV division — running in our #2 spot! She's another one who I know is chomping at the bit to get back on the track and jump over things!
• Rachel Mural is the sweetest thing you've ever met ... until she races! She earned 8th in the varsity division and looked strong doing so! She has had several consistent races this year and made so much improvement since her days at WSMS! I'm looking forward to watching her continue to improve.

Carly Littlefield

Blue Ridge High School is in UIL Conference 3A which means the girls run the 3200-meter distance and not the 5K-meter distance that the boys run. Prior to the Fall of 2012, all the conferences had girls running 3200 meters. Since then, 4A-6A have moved their girls up to running 5Ks. But today the Lovejoy girls ran 3200 meters and that could be considered a good thing with the weather and challenging course as they were.

The Lovejoy girls won the Varsity Girls race, but were challenged from some other schools that Lovejoy has not competed against since Lovejoy was a 3A school. Good pack running was the girls' key to success here: scoring finishes at 8+11+19+26+28 (32+34) with a #1 to #5 split time of 53 seconds. That's an amazingly competitive squad consider that Coach Littlefield's top-24 runners are off racing at the Chile Pepper this weekend. Second place Paris and third place Nevada Community had split times of 2:13 and 3:54.

Freshman Rachel Mural (8th overall in 14:22.31) started the Leopard's scoring followed by junior Berkeley Mosel (11th in 14:32.36), freshman Paige Spencer (20th in 14:57.78), sophomore Cate Jackson (27th in 15:14.20), and freshman Lily Sanders (29th in 15:16.22). A lot of Leopard youth collaborating for the victory.

[VG results]

In the Varsity Boys race the Leopards order of finish was 17+33+49+50+53 (56+74) with a split time of 2:07. That put them 6th out of 19 teams. 3A Ponder High School (near Denton) won with an order of finish that went 2+4+8+11+22.

Ajay Prithiviraj (17th in 18:09.02) had a solid run for the Leopards and improved his 5K time from Fall Fest by 16.4 seconds on an equally challenging course. Carter Ewing (33rd in 19:25.03) had a great performance jump of 46.9 seconds from Fall Fest.

[VB results]

The JV Girls race was Lovejoy's most lopsided of the morning with the Lady Leopards scoring a meet-low 25 points. Three of the other eleven teams managed to score under 100 points: 6A Rock Hill (56 points), 3A Emory Rains (82 points), and 4A Van Alstyne (91 points). As the score would suggest, Lovejoy's order of finish was 1+4+5+7+8 (11+15) — so the Lovejoy top-5 all finishing in the race's top-8.

Senior Rachel Dobbs (1st overall in 14:45.03) was scheduled to run in Fayetteville on Saturday. Rachel was almost 30 seconds ahead of the 2nd place finisher from Emory Rains. Sophomore Addy McCaffity (4th in 15:18.45) had a nice bounce back from the Rick Neill last Thursday. Junior Malik Khalil (5th in 15:47.28) has been working on her running for a few years and today she scored. Likewise, junior Genevieve Jones (7th in 15:48.53) is having her best season since middle school. And junior Skylar Vaughn (8th in 16:17.50) also scored today. No freshmen in this group.

[JVG results]

The JV Boys race was a close one for the Leopards as they almost won it. Rock Hill took 1st over Lovejoy and 3rd place ILTX-Garland by a score of 41-43-47. All those little battles at the end of a race. Still a great job for the guys in a race with tough conditions.

Knox Tokarz (3rd in 19:30.98), Christian Harris (8th in 20:16.29), and Primo Chandrasekaran (9th in 20:23.94) all had top-10 finishes. Keith Goeders (11th in 20:50.74) and Connor Katerberg (12th in 20:57.00) weren't far behind. Of note was David David's return to action — always good to see the seniors get after it.

[JVB results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival Results

Our Varsity Boys team placed 3rd overall out of 110 teams in the El Caliente division. Our B team placed 15th overall in the El Caliente division, beating every other Texas team entered including Prosper Rock Hill (6A), Byron Nelson (6A), and #7 5A ranked Colleyville Heritage just to name a few. Caden Gary and Nick Yarad were both in the top 25 with 15th and 24th place respectively. 860 runners finished in the El Caliente race.

The race conditions were fitting to the race name El Caliente — very hot! Because of the heat on race day, meet directors adjusted the Open Varsity race to a 2-mile race. The Open Varsity boys placed 8th out of 77 teams.

CLICK HERE for the results

Runners of the Week

Congrats to our Runners of the Week!

• Knox Tokarz
• Aaron Wimbish

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

National Rankings

• DyeStat: Lovejoy girls move up to a #7 Ranking in the US
• MileSplit USA: Lovejoy girls have the 3rd best team average in the US

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.
CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

And well-groomed as the course was, and with tame temperatures, the times for the runners was noticeably higher compared to the times last weekend at Fall Fest. Here's a comparison of the top-5 average times ...

	Fall Fest	Cow Jam	delta
girls	17:59.8	19:37.3	+1:37.5
boys	15:44.1	16:42.3	+0:58.2

Lots of theories for the big increases.

• The OSU course was long. (well, no, runners were mostly showing 3.2 miles on their watches)
• The OSU course is college tough. (that much tougher than the beast at Myers Park?)
• The fields were large — 327 runners for the girls, 460 runners for the boys (yeah, ok, maybe that slowed things down a little)
• The kids have had a long season and are a little worn out. (um, District isn't for another 18 days, so let's hope they're not worn out yet)
• It was hot. (yeah, but not that hot and there was a reasonable breeze)

This is a head scratcher.

Two Lovejoy alums ran in the Men's 8K college race. Will Muirhead (LHS 2020) and Tate Barr (LHS 2022) ran for OSU with Will finishing #4 for OSU and 9th overall in 24:17.1 while Tate finished 71st in 26:59.0. The OSU Cowboys won the men's race. For extra fun, Lovejoy XC Coach Emeritus Greg Christensen was the race announcer. The photography staff and Lovejoy girls head coach completely missed that Rachel and Hailey Malik (LHS 2022) ran in the Women's 6K race. They star for the Univ. Of Arkansas at Fort Smith. Other alums were in the house: all-world Amy Morefield, OSU's Katie Armstrong (currently in a boot and recovering from injury), and OSU student Sydney Taylor (LHS 2022). We're probably missing a few more Lovejoy alumni.

The Boys 5K came next with Lovejoy battling it out with the #1-ranked team in Oklahoma from Deer Creek High School in Edmund. It was a close race with Deer Creek prevailing 78-90. The other 49 teams in the race scored in the 182-1705 point range. So really just a 2-team race between two uber elites.

Nick Yarad (9th in 16:23.7) continues to look fresh, while Caden Gary (10th in 16:25.5) was again at up front in the Lovejoy scoring. Joey Reid (24th in 16:47.3) was again #3 showing he belongs in the top-5 to stay. Devin Muaina (28th in 16:56.4) had a strong race and was followed in by Aaron Wimbish (30th in 16:58.8) who, like Joey, was again is the top-5.

Mr. Joe Bluestein (33rd in 17:02.4) was in action for the first time this season. And then came Liam Dunleavy (35th in 17:03.4) who was supposed to be on the B Team today, but his times keep bubbling to the top.

[Boys 5K results]

The Lovejoy girls had no competition in the Girls 5K as all of their top-5 runners finished in the race's top-10. The Lady Leopards scored an impressive 33 points with the other 34 teams scoring in the 93-1090 point range. Disappointing competition, but not many can keep up with the Lovejoy girls (Varsity or JV).

Sara Morefield (2nd overall in 18:46.5) battled throughout for 1st overall, but eventually Madison Peters of Pearland pulled away in the final 1K. Camryn Benson (5th in 19:08.6), Bridget Bernal (8th in 19:57.8) and Kailey Littlefield (10th in 20:05.9) ran faster paces for the first half of the race, but then lost some steam in the last 2 kilometers. All the Leopards did. These last 2 kilometers of the OSU 5K course are nasty. Whereas Lovejoy runners are accustomed to accelerating in the last half of the race, this course makes it all but impossible to even keep pace with the first 3 kilometers.

And then came the top Lovejoy runners from the unrecognized (per OSU scoring) B Team: Campbell Lester (13th in 20:15.6), Sophie Brooks (32nd in 20:51.8), Kate Carlson (39th in 21:01.6), and Rachel Wheeler (46th in 21:14.9) marking the first time this season that Kate has not finished 1st overall in her race.

[Girls 5K results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

Carly Littlefield

race	girls	boys
Elite Varsity	n/a	3rd
Open Varsity	2nd	7th
JV	1st	16th

A year ago at this same meet, Lovejoy won 3 of the 4 races.

One notable problem with today's meet was the lack of course monitors. Consequently, at several points during the race, runners (from other schools) cut the course rather severely. This was especially the case for the JV Boys race. While Coach Kelly has worked hard to translate today's times into meaningful 5K numbers (the official course length was short), the Leopards' times cannot fairly be compared to other runners because they were not running the same distance.

In the Elite Varsity Boys race, Lovejoy was extremely competitive with the other top teams finishing 3rd to Lake Highlands and Prosper Walnut Grove by a score of 38-46-54. Tristan Arceneau (6th in 16:27.81), TJ Koch (9th in 16:30.57), and Adam Morefield (10th in 16:31.48) had top-10 finishes.

A camera malfunction prevented the photography staff from getting any photos of this race. Sorry guys. (The above photos are from Fall Fest.)

[EVB results]

In the Open Varsity Girls race the Lovejoy girls finished 2nd to Prosper Walnut Grove by a mere 2 points: 59-61. All the other teams scored over 100 points. The amazing part is that only Natalia Martinez (10th in 21:01.31) finished in the top-10. But for the 10-runner stretch from places 10 to 19, seven of the finishers were Leopards.

[OVG results]

Aiden, Daxton, Carter

The Lovejoy boys finished near the middle of the field in the Open Varsity Boys race with only Aiden Oye (23rd in 18:03.42) finishing amongst the top-38 runners. With 14 Varsity runners headed up to Stillwater OK this weekend, and another 11 runners competing earlier in the Elite race, the Leopards in this race still put forward a credible Varsity-grade effort.

[OVB results]

The JV Girls race belonged to Lovejoy as our girls ran away from the field scoring 33 points. Hurst Bell (2nd place) scored 91 points, and the other 13 teams scored between 107 and 437 points. All five of the Leopard scorers finished in the top-10: Paige Spencer (3rd in 22:52.26), Lily Sanders (5th in 23:14.73), Berkeley Mosel (6th in 23:22.08), Genevieve Jones (9th in 23:37.83), and Macy Moore (10th in 24:00.69).

[JVG results]

Finally, the JV Boys race closed out the morning with only 7 Leopards competing. Our guys ran the full course (basically), whereas other teams were cutting the course in large chunks (more than 500 meters overall). So the guys should not be discouraged by a 16th place finish.

[JVB results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.
CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Runners of the Week

Congrats to our Runners of the Week!

• Caden Gary
• TJ Koch
• Aiden Oye

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

Athletes of the Week

• Caroline Dolberry ran what I would say was the most competitive race I've ever seen her run last Saturday. She got out very aggressively and took the front end of our chase pack helping Mia and Talia along in the first mile. She earned a medal and a PR on that tough course! Caroline is a senior who has been a big part of our XCTF culture and team spirit/unity. She is an amazing young woman with a heart of gold who pulls for EVERYONE all of the time. She is a true teammate!
• Rachel Wheeler has continued to improve each week. She broke her toe early in the season and had to sit out for a few weeks, but she has come back with a vengeance! She raced REALLY well on Saturday and helped lead our varsity girls to a BIG win!! Rachel lives running, and she has come so far in the past few years. She is a great role model for any younger girl who wants to be a great runner. Put in the work and results will come! While she has had a great season so far, the best is yet to come for Rachel!!
• Cailee Horinek is a sprinter turned distance runner ... in the making!! She has some speed... she ran on our JV relays last spring and she also ran a 61 in the open 400! Now, she's gaining strength day by day as she is becoming a great distance runner. She had her breakout race on Saturday running a solid time, and learning how to push herself a little bit more. I can guarantee you that she will be a top runner for us in 2024 - both on the track, and in XC!
• Camryn Benson isn't even close to being done yet ... but man did she have an outstanding race last weekend! We've been working on attacking earlier with her, and she did just that! She got out ... she ran strong in the middle, and then she ran even stronger over the last mile to close the gap to the front pack! She ran a massive PR, but even better, she showed her strength and her closing speed. She is a great teammate who wants what is best for the team at all times, and she definitely makes us STRONG!

Carly Littlefield

And a small army of Lovejoy volunteers collaborated with our coaches and booster club to make this meet the most successful 5A meet in Texas (no kidding).

The Lady Leopards easily won the Elite Varsity Girls race scoring 35 points with no other team scoring under 100 points. The race was won by Braswell's Macy Wingard (1st in 17:02.1) who set a meet record for the girls. Last fall, Cedar Park's Isabel Conde De Frankenberg set a new record of 17:12.12 that was expected to stand for a few years. It did not.

Now that we're past the mid-September point (and only 24 days away from District), it's a good time to see how the girls have re-formed with Amy out of the equation. So again this season they have two hammers to start off the low scoring: Sara Morefield (3rd today in 17:30.0) and Camryn Benson (4th in 17:31.5). The chaser is (again) Kailey Littlefield (7th in 18:13.5) who bridges between the hammers and the scoring pack. And then leading in the scoring pack are Peyton Benson (10th in 18:21.9) and Bridget Bernal (11th in 18:22.0). This #4 and #5 tandem looks like a winning combination that will carry the girls through State. The hammers were so fast today that the 52-second #1-#5 split time should not bother anyone. As an FYI, Sara dropped her time from last fall's Fall Fest by 9.33 seconds and Camryn dropped hers by a whopping 66.4 seconds. And that essentially explains the shift in this year's top-5 girls — Camryn has taken over for Amy, and Bridget is now filling Camryn's old spot. That's the good news.

Then comes the uncertainty of who will be the #6 and #7 runners for the girls. Lots and lots of options. Today it was Sofia Dominguez (32nd in 19:16.7), Jocelyn Chapman (51st in 19:38.6), and Campbell Lester (73rd in 19:55.0). And let's not forget some of the candidates running in the Open Varsity Girls race: Kate Carlson (easily 1st in 19:44.6 with no one pushing her) and Sophie Brooks (2nd in 19:54.0). Kaylee Martin was scheduled to run in the Elite race, but was a last-minute scratch due to a short-term injury. So plenty of options.

If the girls have one work-on, it's closing the gap between the top-5 and everyone else. Today that gap was 54.7 seconds (a bit too big). The scoring pack is supposed to be, say, runners #4 thru #7, but right now for the girls it's only runners #4 and #5 (a bit too lean).

[EVG results]

Lovejoy finished 2nd in the Elite Varsity Boys race to Bentonville — the #1-ranked 6A boys team from Arkansas (per MileSplit). Lovejoy was the top finishing UIL 5A school, and the next 5A school, Frisco Wakeland, finished 9th. FYI, Wakeland is currently ranked at #4 by the CCCAT. Lovejoy beat 6A CCCAT-ranked Katy Tompkins, Coppell, and Northwest Byron Nelson.

Caden Gary (16th in 15:28.3) had a nice 26.6-second improvement from last year. Nick Yarad (18th in 15:31.8) was back in the lineup and showing what fresh legs can do. Nick improved by 75.3 seconds (huge) over 2022. Joey Reid (27th in 15:37.4) showed the biggest 1-year jump — 2:04.9. Aaron Wimbish (38th in 16:00.5) was a surprise at #4 for Lovejoy. Devin Muaina (42nd in 16:02.4) closed out the scoring with a 31.0-second improvement. The guys turned in a 34.1-second #1 to #5 split time which is what you need to win a State championship. Very encouraging. And all of Lovejoy's top-5 runners almost broke the 16-minute mark posting a top-5 average time of 15:44.1.

The depth of the boys squad really show when you consider how many were right behind the top-5 finishers: Henry Bennion (49th in 16:07.9), Tyler Morefield (59th in 16:15.7), Will Carlson (72nd in 16:21.7), and Jackson Reid (76th 16:23.0) all broke the 16:30 mark. And not far behind them were Tristan Arceneau (16:40.1) and Andrew Poulton (17:03.4).

Today's solid achievement was accomplished with (a) Joe Bluestein not running, and (b) Will Carlson not finishing in the top-7. That's what depth will do for you. We've mentioned Wakeland. The other highly ranked 5A teams ran against each other at the Westlake Chapparral meet where Boerne Champion and Georgetown finished 1st and 2nd with top-5 average times of 16:36 and 16:32 respectively. That was in late August.

[EVB results]

The Lovejoy girls turned in another 1st place finish in the Open Varsity Girls race. Their 28 points was Lovejoy's lowest score of the day. A lot of well-known schools amongst the 29 teams that finished after Lovejoy. Of historical note were Highland Park and Bishop Lynch which also competed at the very first Lovejoy XC meet back in 2006 when it was called the Lovejoy Jamboree.

Kate Carlson (1st in 19:44.6) racked up another 1st place individual finish. Sophie Brooks (2nd in 19:54.0) was the only runner even close to Kate. The Leopard scoring was quickly closed out by Rachel Wheeler (4th in 20:18.2), Cailee Horinek (9th in 20:39.3), and Talia Orshalick (12th in 20:48.7). The #1 thru #5 Leopards finished in the top-12 overall of a 179-runner race.

Mia Reaugh (15th in 21:02.3) and Caroline Dolberry (17th in 21:05.7) added extra insurance. The remaining three Leopards finished in the top-50: Natalia Martinez (24th in 21:18.2), Cora Craver (35th in 21:47.1), and Rachael Mural (43rd in 21:59.8). Quite a statement.

[OVG results]

The boys turned in their most dominant performance of the day in the Open Varsity Boys race. The boys scored 31 points and the only opposing team within 100 points of them was 2nd-place 6A Katy Seven Lakes with 41 points.

Liam Dunleavy (1st overall in 16:07.6) had a better time than 6 of Lovejoy's runners in the Elite Varsity Boys race. About 56.1 seconds later, the Lovejoy cavalry showed up: Ethan Murray (4th in 17:03.7), TJ Koch (5th in 17:06.5), Joe O'Brien (9th in 17:13.3), TJ Thompson (12th in 17:14.7), and Ethan Smith (16th in 17:20.0). The point of Lovejoy's emphatic victories in both of the Open Varsity races is depth. No (or very few) other schools can match Lovejoy's across-the-board excellence.

Other solid performances in this race were Johnathan Woulfe (27th in 17:40.4), Adam Morefield (36th in 17:47.9), Adam Rogers (41st 17:52.2), and Arjun Sharma (58th in 18:08.7). This race featured 278 finishers and all the Leopards finished in the top 20% of the field.

[OVB results]

The Elite JV Girls race was the only one that the Lovejoy girls didn't win today including the middle school race. A very competitive 78-81-113-116-132-etc. score between a number of quality teams with Lovejoy finishing 2nd to 6A Keller. Notably Lovejoy ran the largest contingent with 22+ athletes whereas most of the other schools limited their squad to 10 or fewer athletes.

Kennedy Johns (9th in 21:34.6) dueled Lily Fogle (10th in 21:35.0) at the finish. Shortly thereafter Mia Binnings (13th in 21:51.8), Dominique Iannarelli (18th in 22:07.0) and Rachel Dobbs (28th in 22:28.1) closed out the scoring. The #1 to #5 split time was only 56.1 seconds — quite good for a JV race.

[EJVG results]

Lovejoy finished 7th in the Elite JV Boys race behind five 6A schools and an odd assortment of 5A Grapevine runners. I say odd because Grapevine rarely if ever runs it's top-5 before District. The Grapevine squad that ran in the Elite Varsity Boys race today finished 28th with a score of 707 points and a top-5 average time of 17:12.6 — this was not Grapevine's State championship team. So who knows which Grapevine runners ran JV today.

Ty Muaina (20th in 18:25.2) and Ajay Prithiviraj (21st in 18:25.4) ran beside each other for almost the entire race. Daxton McKnight (44th in 19:12.9) and Aiden Oye (45th in 19:14.4) came in bang, bang. And then Max Sanchez (64th in 19:42.2) followed closely by Knox Tolarz (67th in 19:44.3) closed out the scoring. The Lovejoy boys all worked hard today and this meet will be especially good preparation for District on October 10th.

[EJVB results]

CLICK HERE for the meet photo album.

Great racing overall by the boys and girls squads. Our Elite Boys team placed 2nd overall to #38 ranked USA Bentonville, AR. The elite boys team had a solid 32 second 1-5 gap time. We were able to beat #5, 6, and 7 ranked 6A teams. In addition, we were able to beat the #4, 5, 6, and 7 ranked 5A teams. The Varsity Boys team placed 1st overall and Liam Dunleavy had a great race taking the victory. The Elite JV Boys Squad placed 7th out of 26 teams. Overall we had a total of 18 PR's on the day.

Runners of the Week

Congrats to our Runners of the Week!

• Nick Yarad
• Joey Reid
• Liam Dunleavy
• Knox Tokarz

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

Next ...
The girls CRUSHED it Saturday!!!! We won the Elite division, Varsity division and middle school division and took 2nd in the JV elite division! They ran outstanding on the always challenging Myers Park course.

CLICK HERE for full meet results.

Great Milesplit interviews by our 2 Varsity squads! You must have a MileSplit account to view.

• Elite
• Varsity

Kate Carlson with the Varsity girls win — she got to cross the banner!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.
CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Athletes of the Week

• Chloe Long is new to us this year, and she has done an amazing job! This girl never misses practice, always gives her best effort, and has a great attitude all the time! She is one of our sprinters who does an outstanding job of adjusting to the longer distances, and she is a very natural runner. She has had 3 very impressive races (including time trial) this year and has displayed great consistency!
• Rachel Dobbs is one of our sprint/jumpers who has been a staple in our XC program for years now. She is literally the sunshine of the team! She is involved in a billion different organizations, but she finds a way to manage her time and be great for us no matter how thinly she's spread that week! She has improved a lot this season, and she has been a great leader for our sprinters on both speed days and the dreaded distance days! :) She makes our whole team better with her positive, upbeat and spirited self!
• Grace Peay is simply amazing. She shows up every day with a great attitude. She is flexible and adaptable and ready to do whatever is thrown her way. She has a strong desire to be the best she can be, and she has a strong inner strength that drives her; you can just see it. She hasn't had her big breakout race yet this season, but it's coming! She has been consistent and has had some really strong practices over the past few weeks! She has been looking especially strong in the thresholds! She's another girl who makes our team better with her amazing attitude, work ethic, and reliability.
• Natalia Martinez is a freshman who is hungry for success. She wants to be the best she can, and she is working very hard to get there! She has been consistent in her racing this season and has made a great impact on our team. I think that next year, once she has a year of high school-level workouts along with a good track season under her belt, she is going to be one to keep an eye on for the top 7-10 runners on our team. She is a worker!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.
CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.
CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Elite Division

Our boys finished as the #1 5A team entered and competed well with some of the top ranked 6A teams competing despite not having two of our top runners for Saturday (Nick and Joe).

• 1st: 6A #1 Southlake
• 2nd: 6A Unranked McKinney Boyd
• 3rd: 6A #2 Austin Vandergrift
• 4th: 6A #8 Wylie
• 5th: 5A #1 Lovejoy
• 6th: 6A #5 Coppell
• 7th: 6A #10 Northwest Nelson
• 8th: Piedmont, OK (Oklahoma State Champs)

Other teams competing in the Elite division that we were able to beat included the following:

• 5A #2 Grapevine
• 5A #5 Frisco Wakeland
• 5A #7 Frisco Reedy
• 5A #9 Lubbock Monterey - our Open Varsity Squad beat this team

Varsity Division

Our Varsity Boys group dominated this race. This demonstrated the great depth that our boys team has. We had 6 medal finishers that included the following:

• Tyler Morefield 4th
• Jack Thompson 5th
• Joe O'Brien 6th
• TJ Reid 10th
• Tristan Arceneau 11th
• Adam Morefield 15th

JV Division

The JV boys group placed 11th overall out of 33 teams. Although the course was short, I converted all of the time to a 3200M time. Based on the conversions every JV runner PR'd!

Runners of the Week

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

MEDAL EARNERS! (top 20)

• ELITE DIVISION — Sara Morefield, Camryn Benson, Kailey Littlefield, Bridget Bernal
• VARSITY DIVISION — Kate Carlson, Rachel Wheeler
• JV DIVISION — Lilly Kraus (her face here is priceless! So excited!!)

Birthday

In other news ... I am so grateful to the girls for their extreme thoughtfulness on my birthday! They went all out! It helped another year of getting older be a lot better! Mia Reaugh is my birthday twin! Some of the girls dressed as "cupcakes" complete with sprinkles and candles!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.
CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Medal Earners

• Varsity Division — Kate Carlson, Talia Orshalick
• JV Division — Rachel Dobbs, Chloe Long, Mia Binnings, Lily Fogle, Dominique Iannerelli, Kennedy Johns (not pictured) - this group won with 27 points! 2nd was 91!!
• Elite Varsity — Bridget Bernal, Sofia Dominguez, Kaylee Martin

Athletes of the Week

• Talia Orshalick — This young lady has been running since 7th grade, and she has always been a competitive presence for us in both XC and Track. She is a fantastic hurdler and strong 4x4 leg, and Friday she proved she is a force to be reckoned with on the XC course as well! She is a FIERCE competitor who is fearless, calm, and tough! She ran a minute faster than the Time Trial, and she is just getting started! (She is also a highly competitive dancer who puts in A LOT OF HOURS each week and still manages to be a solid XC teammate!)
• Katie Mitchell — A freshman sprinter who just joined XC this year for the first time. She is another one that hates to lose. She balances XC with soccer, and she is a little ray of sunshine for the team! Always smiling and always has a story for us. She was over 1 minute faster than the Time Trial! She just missed getting a medal by 1 spot, so I look forward to watching her race hard to earn one at the next meet!
• Lily Fogle — She has also been with us since 7th grade, and her improvement this season is AMAZING. Something has clicked for this young lady as she has been training tougher and her confidence is growing each practice. She got out super aggressively on Friday and never looked back! She set the tone for our JV group as the top finisher for us!
• Kennedy Johns — She is also a hurdler who is new to the XC scene this year. She is one of the most improved so far this season. She ran over a minute and a half faster than at the Time Trial, and she has more in the tank. She is a great athlete who wants to be the best she can and has been at every single practice working hard! She is starting to figure this sport out, and I am thinking that over the next year she is going to be one to watch as she moves into higher groups and sees that work pay off!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.
CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Athletes of the Week

• Sophie Brooks is a sophomore new to our XC team this year. She had a great track season as a sprinter and jumper, and now she is testing the distance waters. She is an ATHLETE and a COMPETITOR! She is starting to figure the distance thing out ... and she ran a 12:35 at her time trial on Saturday!! She also destroyed her mile repeats on Friday, hanging with some of our top runners. I am looking for her to continue this growth and be a possible top runner for us as she makes her way to the 19s for 5k.
• Skylar Vaughn and Malak Khailil are a dynamic training duo who started running with us last year as sophomores. Their growth has been pretty remarkable to witness. They each had a great track season ... getting much faster. They put in the mileage I ask of them each week, and they improved by 4 minutes in their time trial on Saturday — both running under 16 minutes! They have been a great example of what commitment, dedication, and consistent effort can do for runners!
• Mia Binnings has made a lot of improvement this year, and she has really stepped it up in her training! She has been training a group up, and it showed in her results on Saturday as she ran a minute faster than last year! She has been here all summer putting in the miles, and I think she will have a really great season!

Girls got creative this week! We had our weekly neon group ... we also had "top secret" group, ladybugs, pink ladies, and barbie theme. When you have to run 5 miles in 100 degree weather, you figure out ways to have some fun! :)

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.
CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

The top 15 runners — boys and girls — turned in the best average times ever which bodes well for the rest of the season. It will be a nice change for the coaches to worry about over preparation before District on October 10th. Competition season will see the Leopards compete at 5 meets before District. The last two weeks involve splitting the team between DFW-area JV meets and out-of-town Varsity meets.

Lots of parents attended as well as the largest gathering of alumni in Time Trial history. Quite the turnout in spite of the weather.

The boys really front loaded the field with 20 runners finishing in the 9:47 to 10:47 time span. The top-15 average time of 10:13 was a hair better than the 2019 average of 10:14 back when Will Muirhead and Trevor Malik were leading the charge. Coach Kelly converted the boys’ 2-mile times from today into 5K equivalents and the resulting #1 to #7 split time was a ridiculously low 23 seconds. That’s exceptional for UIL championship races and crazy good for early August.

[boys results]

The girls have a lot of returning talent, but a few issues to overcome. Still they have a solid opportunity to defend their UIL State Championship and win a third consecutive title. The #5, #6, and #7 runners will be critical. The class of 2026 sophomores will make their presence known. It’s foreseeable that three will make the Varsity.

Today’s top-15 runners averaged 12:20.2 which stands well ahead of the averages from previous Time Trials. Six of the top-seven finishers averaged a 49.5-second improvement over their times from last year. A great improvement to start off the season.

[girls results]

In terms of team size, the boys had 43 runners finish at the Time Trial and the girls had 48 finishers. So if you include those who could not compete at this event, the LHS team size is back up around 100 runners again.

CLICK HERE for the photo album.

This Week

We have a BIG week this week! There are also a few schedule adjustments this week. We are flipping Monday and Wednesday practice times this week. Tuesday we will run in the morning because there are a lot of events that day.

8th Period Athletics for the 1st Week of School

Runners need to report to the track near the big scoreboard for attendance and instruction from there.

• Wednesday — Team Meeting
• Thursday — Core / Strength work
• Friday — Core Work / Team Meeting

Logan Kelly
cell: 903-821-8399

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.
CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Power of the Pack

Theme Day — Lots of Pink and White

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.
CHAMPION MINDSET.

Carly Littlefield

Most creative picture was the SAUCE GIRLS — Caroline, Anna, Campbell, Bridget, Cate, Kaylee, Michaela, Natalia

Winners of the Trivia game were the THUGS — not pictured because it was too big — Sara, Haylie, Rachel W, Sofia, Sophie, Paige, Lily S, Cora

We made it to the destination — beautiful!

Lots of fun and difficult things done! Caroline and Cate left our mark at the Waterfall! LJXC 2023

We are READY AND EAGER FOR ANOTHER EPIC SEASON!

STRONGER. FASTER. TOUGHER.
CHAMPION MINDSET.
THE ROAD TO 3-PEAT STARTS NOW!

Carly Littlefield