Recognition for a lot of hard work, that is how Brownwood High School Head Cross Country Coach Don Hood summarized the recent naming of three of his teams’ athletes this year for All-District and Academic All-District Honors.
“I am thrilled that some of our kids are starting to get some recognition for their hard work,” said Hood.
Hood said that senior Katy Jacobs has been working tremendously hard and was very dedicated this year and honored for her success as the Most Valuable Player on the BHS girls’ varsity team at the cross country awards ceremony last week. Hood recognized how many days in a row Katy had been running – more than 180, which is six months straight, not missing a day since June. The dedication paid off as Katy had a season of placing in the top ranks in several meets, advancing to district, regional and state with her teammates. Katy was also honored as an Academic All-State athlete.
“Katy is a great example of a runner grabbing hold of a vision of success and chasing it down. She has raised herself to a high level because of her relentless determination. She is the kind of runner that leads by example, putting in more miles than anyone else and racing at a high level every week,” said Hood. “To do that and still maintain an excellent GPA is a hard task to do.Hood gave Jacobs credit for improving her own performance while mentoring the team to success.
“She has set this program on a good path to success by showing not only that it can be done but that it can be done the right way,” explained Hood. “I’m very proud and thankful to have her in our program.”
Junior Dylan Person was also honored at the BHS ceremony as the Most Valuable Athlete on the boys’ varsity team and as a member of the Texas Cross Country Coaches Association’s All-Region and All-State Team.
Hood stated that success has been a process of years of work and improvement passionately achieved by Person who this year placed 8th at the state meet, becoming the first Brownwood High School athlete to ever medal at the meet.
“Dylan had a breakout season. He has exceeded my expectations and helped me to realize that hard work can raise the ceiling higher than we can imagine,” Hood said. “I’m excited to see what he still has to accomplish. I think he can be a state champion if he pursues it with the same passion he has had the past three years.”
Freshman Julianne Hood, the coach’s daughter, was also selected for All-State honors. Hood stated that he was very proud as her father and coach.
“Obviously, as a dad and a coach, I’m very proud of Julianne. To step in as a freshman and perform at a high level is hard to do,” said Hood. “Many are afraid of that kind of responsibility and pressure.”
Julianne has found support in classmates who worked well together with her and became known as the “fab freshmen” of the team.
“We had a great freshman group this year and Julianne benefited from being surrounded by a group of classmates who competed with her and celebrated everyone’s success,” Hood stated.
He also spoke of how she overcame adversity of an injury to become a top athlete on the team.
“I am most proud of how she fought back from a mid-season injury to her foot. She missed over a week of training at a critical time of the year. She responded by working extra in order to help this team,” he explained. “Not only did she return to good form, she surpassed what she thought she could do and ended up being our top finisher at our last two meets. I think the honor of being named to the all-state team is a result of her hard work and competitive spirit. She wanted this team to succeed so she worked and raced hard to help that happen.”
Coach Hood is very proud of the success that both the girls’ and boys’ teams had this year and stated that the future looks bright for next year as some top athletes will return and new members will be added from upcoming grades.
“Our future looks very good as we build around what Katy has helped lead us to. With Victoria and Alex Bernal back to lead us as seniors and a hard working group of underclassmen coming up – we could raise it up to even higher levels,” Hood said of the girls’ team. “On the boys side we lose some good seniors but we have three (Dylan Person, Tristan Stieber and Adam Tipton) of our top five coming back and three or four more very good underclassmen getting ready to fill the gaps. I’m very excited about what lies ahead.”
