Flower Mound's girls cross country team enters the 2026 season three points from a sixth consecutive UIL Class 6A state championship, and the Jaguars want those points back.
Both Flower Mound and Marcus High School open the fall with state-meet ambitions after strong 2025 campaigns, according to a Cross Timbers Gazette season preview published Saturday, Aug. 8.
Flower Mound: unfinished business on both sides
The Jaguar girls won five straight state titles before Cypress Bridgeland edged them 38-41 at the Nov. 1 state meet in Round Rock. They also claimed the Region I-6A championship and the district title in 2025.
Head coach Andrew Cook told the Gazette the girls' goal is to return to the top of the podium after placing second by three points, while the boys' primary objective is to qualify for state after coming up one spot short.
Senior Adeline Bennett leads the charge. Bennett finished third at regionals with a time of 17:58 and then won the UIL 6A girls 1,600-meter state track title in May with a 4:49.56 clocking, according to state results. Fellow senior Liana Cluley Garza joins her at the front of the pack.
The boys won the district title in 2025 but finished fifth at the Region I-6A meet with a score of 170, one qualifying spot outside the top four that advance to state. Cook said Owen Dunham and Elliot Carrier, who finished first and second at the district JV meet, will move up to varsity and add immediate depth alongside strong returning junior and senior classes.
Marcus: pack mentality, state aspirations
Across town, Marcus coach Andrew Reinberg has nearly his entire girls varsity roster back.
"Our strength is in our pack," Reinberg said. "In order to see success this season we will need both boys and girls to trust each other and find a way to the front of every race."
The Marauder girls finished second at district and advanced to regionals in 2025. Seniors Kinsley Tracy, Elise Schwendinger, Lana Libby and Maria Godinez anchor the returning group, joined by Taryn Elmer and juniors Olivia Williams and Tinsley Potter.
The boys placed third at district and also reached regionals. Varsity returners include Andrew Parrish, Oliver Miller, Sam Johnston, Brody Regan, Luke Griffin and Albert van der Wal. Reinberg said younger runners Greyson Potter, Odin Charles and Luke Finfrock will add depth to the group.
Reinberg said a successful 2026 means both his boys and girls teams advancing to the UIL state meet. The UIL has not yet released the 2026 cross country schedule.
