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Southlake Carroll ready to defend boys and girls titles at Nike South Invitational

The state cross country meet is still more than a month away, but the closest thing to a preview will take place this weekend in the Houston area at the Nike South Invitational.

The meet consistently attracts the top teams in Texas, including local powers Flower Mound, Flower Mound Marcus and Southlake Carroll, the defending boys and girls state champions. All three schools will be in attendance this weekend.

“I would say it’s our most important race of the regular season, without a doubt,” said Flower Mound coach Andrew Cook. “It’s kind of something we can look back in the past and see where we’re at compared to last year’s team.”

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Cook and Southlake Carroll coach Justin Leonard said going to the Invitational allows them to race the top teams outside the area before the state meet. But two powers on the girls side, Humble Kingwood and The Woodlands, who finished second and sixth in the state last season, opted for another meet this weekend according to Cook.

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Carroll won both the boys and girls Invitational last season.

“It helps that a lot of our runners have run the course before, so they know the course, they’re familiar with it,” Leonard said. “But as far as winning it last year, it really doesn’t have any relevance to this season.”

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Tillis tops in the area: In the best way possible, Rockwall-Heath volleyball junior Regina Tillis is a killing machine. Tillis, committed to LSU for 2014, is the area kills leader with 492, 33 more than Arlington Lamar's Ashley Elrod.

She had 28 kills Tuesday in a 3-0 victory over Tyler Lee, as Rockwall-Heath improved its record to 27-7 and 7-0 in District 12-5A.

Two volleyball recruits ranked Top 10 nationally: Fifteen Texas players were ranked as top 100 recruits by PrepVolleyball. Three ranked in the top 10, including two area players. Coppell's Chiaka Ogbogu, headed to Texas, was ranked sixth. Lovejoy's Ebony Nwanebu, headed to USC, was seventh.

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Other area players in the rankings were Cedar Hill’s Briana Holman at No. 32 (LSU), Coppell’s Erica Bohannon at No. 75 (Tulsa), Flower Mound Marcus’ Regan McGuire at No. 83 (TCU) and McKinney Boyd’s Megan Mollett at No. 97 (Arkansas).

Carroll coach hits milestone: With a win Tuesday over Haltom, Carroll volleyball coach Arthur Stanfield earned victory No. 902, moving him into 14th all-time in wins according to the school.