Brownwood High School honored Jessica Romero in celebration of her signing a Letter of Intent to attend Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Romero, daughter of Jose and Blanca Romero of Brownwood, will be attending the university on a cross country and track scholarship where she plans to be a study health and exercise science major in their pre-physical therapy program.According to BHS Girls Head Coach Don Hood, Romero was not always a top runner. “It’s a really cool thing to see something like this happen. When Jessica was in the 7th grade, she barely made the cross country team,” said Hood with a smile as he acknowledged she did make the C team in volleyball. “I noticed something, every time we did a circuit, every time we would go to work, she was all out and I kept thinking, and I told Coach Kennedy, ‘If this girl ever finds what she is good at, she is going to be really good.’ And she kept looking and looking and she found something that she would excel at. In the 8th grade, she was a little better, in the 9th grade she made the JV cross country team and at the very last meet, she ran fast enough to be moved up to varsity and it’s been kind of a rocket climb after that.”
Coach Hood explained that Romero improved from a 14:40 two mile as a freshman to an 11:47 two-mile by the end of her senior year. She placed 28th at the UIL state cross country meet in a contest against more than 1300 other athletes.
“She is the only girl in the history of Brownwood High School to go to the cross country state meet all four years, four years in a row. That’s a first, it can never be done for the first time again,” said Hood. “She has blazed a great trail and has done it with good grades, with good attitude, and with an incredible work ethic, and a splash of good luck and has good parents. Going to Oral Roberts is going to be a great opportunity for her,” said Hood.
Oral Roberts is a Division I team in the Summit League and has baseball and basketball teams ranked nationally in the NCAA. “She will do a lot of good things there, and we are really excited for her,” said Hood.
Romero stated that she is excited to attend Oral Roberts University and that it is the school she had wanted to attend. “I just loved it there, I just felt I belonged there,” said Romero. “At the beginning of my senior year, I prayed that God would lead me to the right place, where He wanted me to go. Later on the doors just opened for me to go there.”
Running for Brownwood High School has been an amazing experience, according to Romero. “Going to state four years has meant a lot, all that hard work paid off. Coach Hood was the one who introduced me to this sport and the school has helped me a lot, my teammates have given me great support. This is the best place ever to run.”
Romero plans to study hard, hopefully get straight A’s and plans to reach her dream of competing at the nationals as an ORU Golden Eagle.
Pictured above are Jessica Romero (center), along with (left to right) Coach Don Hood and Romero’s parents Blanca and Jose Romero.
