Brownwood High School Cross Country athletes were honored with a dinner and awards ceremony on November 25th with several athletes receiving special awards.
Brownwood High School Head Cross Country Coach Don Hood said that he was very proud of the teams which he stated over the past five years have increased not only in numbers but in quality and records set.“I’m excited to see the improvement over what we’ve done in the past 5 years,” said Coach Hood.
Varsity Boys Cross Country members were recognized by Hood as having a very different and difficult year. Despite having several seniors graduate and other runners not returning, the team did well in their season, earning second place at district and qualifying for regional competition. One runner, Dylan Person qualified for state for the second year in a row, being the third year in a row that the Lions cross country team had a representative at state competition.
“We had a very different year this year, we didn’t have the core group returning which had been very successful and that was pretty scary,” said Hood. “We had several players that stepped up and ran hard. All but one of these guys played soccer. To buy in to run 30-40 miles a week and sacrifice to be good, that is just amazing. Some ran to become better soccer players.”
The boys’ varsity team was made up of Austin Snyder, Dylan Person, Adam Tipton, Hugo Yebra, Justin Gomez, Matthew Pickard, Jerrod Arredondo, Nathan Lenz, and Ben Berger. Tanner Crow was an alternate at the district meet. Pictured above are members of the varsity boys team present at the awards ceremony.
Regarding the girls varsity, Hood stated that the team entered the season with much hope and that those hopes were challenged through injury and illness.
“This was a difficult year, we anticipated that we’d win everything, but mono and sickness made it very difficult,” said Hood. “It excited me to watch them step up and compete better than they ever had.”
The team won 2nd in district, qualifying for the regional meet where they placed 3rd, qualifying for state and placing 10th overall. Hood explained that 200 teams ran cross country in the girls 3A division and to place 10th in state was quite an accomplishment. Of the 27,000 girls running in Texas, 500 had the honor of running at the state meet, which included the Lady Lions.
The varsity girls team was made up of Alex Bernal, Tori Burkett, Alyson Finnigan, Alexis Gill, Julianne Hood, Victoria Hood, Micaela Lombrano, Jessica Romero, Jeane Standridge and Ashley Strong.
Junior varsity boys and girls also clinched 2nd places at the district meet. Hood stated that several of this year’s JV members would have been varsity runners 5 years ago according to times ran, showing just how much the teams have improved.
Junior varsity boys team included Zeke Adams, Alfredo Fernandez, Victor Rodriguez, Skylar Andrews, Manny Garcia, Juan Maldonado, Danny Romero, Brandon Boswell, Jesus Gomez, Marcos Martinez, Dylan Rosato, Luis Constancia, Tanner Crow, Carson McAnally, Cade Patteson, John Tobias, Robert Dick, Jaime Hernandez, Aaron Philbrick, Sawyer Dodds, Jack Robinson, Marco Jaquez, Cooper Donathan, CJ Rampley, Parker Jackson, Cole Sparks, Chance Goodgion, and Trey Guthrie.
Junior varsity girls included Adrian Bernal, Sharlene Munoz, Josie Borgia, Caylee Smith, Teara Burleson, Alexis Soliz, Holly Callaway, Gabby Soliz, Amy Compean, Vivianna Delgado, Mia Fletcher, and Katie Griffin.
Those honored with special awards and recognition included:
Academic All District:
Varsity Boys: Austin Snyder, Dylan Person, Hugo Yebra, Justin Gomez, Adam Tipton, and Matthew Pickard
Varsity Girls: Alex Bernal, Tori Burkett, Allison Finnigan, Alexis Gil, Julianna Hood, Victoria Hood, Jessica Romero, and Ashley Strong.
Academic All Region Cross Country Team: Dylan Person, Tori Burkett
Academic All State Cross Country Team:
Varsity Boys: Austin Snyder, Adam Tipton, and Matthew Pickard
Varsity Girls: Victoria Hood
Team Honors Varsity Boys:
Captains Award: Dylan Person
Most Improved: Justin Gomez
Lion Heart: Hugo Yebra
Most Valuable Athlete: Dylan Person
Team Honors Varsity Girls:
Captains Award: Victoria Hood, Alex Bernal
Newcomer of the Year: Micaela Lombrano
Lion Heart: Julianne Hood
Most Valuable Athlete: Tori Burkett
Team Honors JV Boys:
Most Improved: Tanner Crow
Lion Heart: Chance Goodgion
Most Outstanding: Ben Berger
Team Honors JV Girls:
Most Improved: Holly Callaway
Lion Heart: Vivianna Delgado
Most Outstanding: Gabby Soliz
Members of the varsity girls team during the awards ceremony.
Junior varsity boys team members
Junior varsity girls team members
