Southern Denton County continues to prove itself to be the home of a multitude of high school running talent.
6A Girls
Flower Mound’s girls refused to be stopped, bringing home another state championship Friday.
The Jags not only beat out Bridgeland, the team they got second place to in 2025, they also beat out cross country powerhouses The Woodlands and Southlake Carroll.
It is Flower Mound’s sixth state title in the last seven years on the girls side.
The Lady Jags were led by seniors Liana Cluley-Garza (third place), Adeline Bennett (sixth place) and Eliana Rivera (10th place), who scored third, fourth and fifth overall, respectively.
Juniors Allie Driscoll (45th place) and Jewel Barnes (49th place) rounded out the scoring for the Lady Jags, scoring 27 points and 29 points, respectively.
Flower Mound’s placeholders were senior Megan Schmidt in 78th and junior Saina Awalegaonkar in 136th.
Byron Nelson’s girls team finished in seventh place, led by senior Elena Sather (28th place, 15 points), sophomore Lyla Calaway (44th place, 26 points) and freshman Cheryl Bor (52nd place, 32 points).
Junior Audrey Pavlicek (82nd place) and senior Talia Ramirez (83rd place) rounded out the scoring for the Lady Bobcats right next to each other, scoring 52 and 53 points, respectively.
Bryon Nelson’s placeholders were sophomore Madison Benton, who finished 92nd overall, and senior Layla Geissah, who finished 125th overall.
Individually, southern Denton County was also well-represented.
Denton Guyer sophomore Anneliese Hull finished in 74th overall, and Northwest High School’s Zoe Banis finished 86th overall.
5A Girls
Argyle High School finished 12th at state, led by a pair of freshmen in Annee Binning (32nd overall, 16 points) and Presley Skaggs (46th place, 27 points).
Junior Madison Chapman ( , ), sophomore Everlee Muckensturm ( , ) and freshman Grace Barnard ( , ) rounded out the scoring for the Lady Eagles.
Argyle’s placeholders were sophomore Addisyn McNatt, who finished in , and junior Morgan Castleberry, who finished in .
With no seniors graduating from the varsity seven, the Lady Eagles have a chance to gain some chemistry and improve going into next season with the same group.
6A Boys
Denton Guyer junior Ruel Newberry continued his dominance of the sport with another spot on the state podium, this time in first place.
Newberry lost to Southlake Carroll’s Caden Leonard by seven seconds in 2025, but made sure he was atop the standings in 2026 with a whopping 14:36.3 time over 5,000 meters (3.11 miles).
@TexasXCCoaches State Champion Ruel Newberry https://t.co/3N6tLXu3Lk
— Guyer Cross (@Guyer_Cross) November 6, 2026
Another individual representative, freshman Greyson Potter of Marcus High School, finished 109th overall.
Flower Mound finished eighth as a team led by a handful of seniors in Joshua Shemi (45th place, 29 points), Elliott Carrier (50th place, 31 points), Damien Hicks (68th place, 45 points), Eric Cano (71st place, 47 points) and Hayes Iacomini (78th place, 52 points).
The Jags placeholders were junior Owen Dunham, who finished in 83rd place overall, and Carter Cole, who finished 119th overall.
5A Boys
A pair of Eagles represented Argyle High School at the state meet this year.
Junior Stiles Deneault finished in 26th place overall and sophomore Jaxen Siqueiros finished in 31st place.
Many cross country teams will now begin preparing for the Nike Cross Regional meet in College Station, Texas, which brings in teams from Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma to compete for a spot at the national meet.
Beyond that, many runners will start to focus on track season.
