The Wylie Pirates and Wylie East Raiders opened the 2026 cross country season Thursday, Aug. 13, at separate venues, and both programs delivered strong early results.

At the Pirates' home "Under the Lights" meet, the Wylie boys placed second in the team standings with 60 points while the Lady Pirates captured third with 73 points on the 2-mile course, according to Wylie News. Across town at Wylie East's auxiliary stadium, junior Evangeline Williams opened her junior campaign with a 4:57 mile in a time trial, a sharp early marker for a runner who placed seventh at the 2025 Class 6A state meet.

Pirates run strong at home

Junior Karter Kekuna led the Wylie boys with a 10th-place finish in 10:53.77, and Jaron Savage followed in 11th at 10:55.6. Luke Boruk (15th, 11:12.74), Lincoln Shumard (18th, 11:13.12) and Johnathan Tesfaye (19th, 11:14.13) rounded out the top five scorers for a Wylie boys squad aiming to reclaim the District 9-6A title after Sachse won the crown in 2025.

On the girls' side, Alexis Lee paced the Lady Pirates with a ninth-place finish in 13:28.89. Sarah Barbe (16th, 13:50.84) and Alice Hall (19th, 14:08.7) cracked the top 20, with Emerson Pierce (21st, 14:10.35) and Vanessa Vazquez (22nd, 14:12.82) also scoring.

The meet's winning teams were not immediately available.

Williams headlines Raider time trial

Williams, who won the District 9-6A meet by 29 seconds in fall 2025 and earned a seventh-place medal at state in 17:49, ran her mile on the home track in 4:57. She transferred to Wylie East from Trabuco Hills High School in California before the 2025 season and quickly became the program's top runner, helping the Lady Raiders reach their first-ever state team berth.

Five other Wylie East girls broke six minutes: Isabelle Price (5:34), Olivia Jeffcoats (5:37), Amiya Runsewe (5:45), Sophia Morales (5:49) and Olivia Preston (5:54).

The Raider boys were even deeper. Nine runners finished under five minutes, led by Michael Price at 4:30. Jaden Parish (4:38), Carson Clark (4:41), Tyson Em (4:43), Keller Trussell (4:48), Holden Ring (4:53), Isaac Pretus (4:58), Carson Scholz (4:59) and Rhett Christensen (4:59) all broke the barrier.

What's next

Wylie East faces its first multi-team test Friday, Aug. 14, at Frontier Park in Prosper. The Pirates return to race action at 7 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 15, at Sulphur Springs' Coleman Park for the Clay Minton Invitational.