After voluntarily running most or all of the summer, Brownwood High School’s cross country athletes are gearing up for a great season.
According to their coach Don Hood, approximately 60 students have turned out to be on this year’s teams, both boys and girls.In the girls cross country, the team has returning leadership in senior Katy Jacobs and junior Victoria hood.
“Both of these girls have had a great summer of training and should be able to run below 12:30 this year,” according to Coach Hood.
Other juniors, Alex Bernal (4th in state last year) and Keeta Vaccarro are returning after having had a very good sophomore season said Hood.
“We’re counting on some good things from our sophomore and freshman classes to boost the team,” Hood said.
Jeane Standridge and Teara Burleson could be good contributors according to Hood. He also stated that freshman runners Tori Burkett, Julianne Hood, Ashley Strong and Jessica Romero are very talented and working hard.
“I’m very excited about what this group can do. I think their only limits are self-imposed,” explained Hood. “They could be as good as anyone in the state.”
For the boys’ team, there are a lot of holes to fill said Hood.
“We lost 3 very good runners from last year’s team, but we return a good core and several talented newcomers,” said Hood. “Senior Jacob Salazar and junior Dylan Person should be our top two runners. They have trained much better than last summer and should be able to compete with the best in our district.”
Hood said he is expecting some other runners to “step up and give the team a solid 5-7 runners. Seniors Michael Westerman and Quantez Johnson, he explained have a great work ethic and will be in the top 7 runners on the team, along with junior Tristan Steiber who had a good season last year and is continually improving. Hood also pointed out sophomore Hugo Yebra also had a great summer of training and according to Hood could even challenge to be in the top three of the boys’ team.
Several junior varsity boys from last year have a chance at helping the varsity team this year according to Hood.
“Adam Tipton, Seth Owen, German Hernandez and Justin Gomez are talented guys and have worked hard this summer,” Hood stated. “I’m excited to see who will step up and fill the team.”
Coach Hood stated that he looks forward to the new district Brownwood is in this year and that it offers some challenges for the team.
“I like our new district. I think it will be more challenging for us, especially for the girls,” said Hood. “Liberty Hill is probably the strongest program. Their boys and girls teams both qualified for State last year. They lost a lot to graduation, but have a good enough program that they should be able to reload. Lampasas, Llano, Burnet and Gatesville all have some good runners – it should be a much more competitive District for us.”
Brownwood High School will host a meet on September 22 with races for all ages. Coach Hood stated that this should be a very good high school meet.
See below for this year’s BHS Cross Country schedule and photo gallery of cross country preseason practice.
Sat., Aug. 25 – Saturday Night Lights at Texas Bank Sports Complex in San Angelo (JV, V)
Fri., Aug. 31 – Burleson Elk Run at Chesenhill Park in Burleson (JV, V)
Sat., Sept. 8 – McMurry Invite at Nelson Park in Abilene (JV, V)
Sat., Sept. 15 – Reunion Run, Brownwood (JV, V)
Sat., Sept. 22 – Brownwood Invite at Brownwood Middle School (JV, V)
Sat. Sept. 29 – open
Thurs.., Oct. 4 – Battlin Badger XC Meet at Lampasas High School (JV, V)
Wed., Oct. 10 – Zephyr Invitational at Shady Creek Golf Course in Blanket (JV)
Thurs., Oct. 11 – Longhorn Invitational at Valley Ridge Park in Cedar Hill (V)
Wed., Oct. 24 – District 5-3A Championship at Lampasas (JV, V)
Sat., Nov. 3 – Region I-3A Championship at Mae Simmons Park in Lubbock (V)
Sat., Nov. 10 – UIL State Championship at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock (V)
{phocagallery view=category|categoryid=348|
limitstart=0|limitcount=1|detail=0|displayname=1|
displaydetail=1|imageshadow=shadow1}
