Dragon XC
Southlake’s super sophomore Caden Leonard has done it again. The reigning Gatorade 2024 boys cross-country runner of the year ran a 4:09.39 to win the state championship in the 1600m at the UIL meet on Saturday at The University of Texas’ Mike Myers Stadium.
Twitter/Carroll Athletic Booster Club
Caden Leonard ran a 4:09.39 to win the state championship in the 1600m at the UIL meet on Saturday May 4th at The University of Texas’ Mike Myers Stadium.
It was a well-contested race where the top three runners all finished within a half-second of each other. San Antonio Reagan’s Gavin Chapa came in second with a 4:09.64 and McKinney’s Joaquin De La Cruz finished third with a time of 4:09.72.
Even more impressive was the fact that Leonard ran a personal best of 8:51.57 in the 3200m race earlier the same morning. In this tightly contested race, he came in second to Benjamin Montgomery, who ran an 8:51.50 to take first place for Bridgeland. Fellow Dragon teammate Zach Troutman was right on their heels running 8:51.64 for third place in what was practically a photo finish.
Caden’s success is reminiscent of past Dragon distance runner Reed Brown, who graduated in 2016 and went on to star in college at the University of Oregon. In that year, Brown crushed Texas' 29-year-old record in the 3,200-meter run at the UIL state track meet, winning the Class 6A race in 8:50.43. Brown's time shattered the previous record of 8:52.34 set in 1987.