The Brownwood Lady Lions started their 2026 cross country season with a championship, edging Abilene Cooper by five points to win the Elite Girls Division at the Jim Ned Warpath Invitational on Saturday at Abilene State Park.
Brownwood scored 36 points to finish first. Class 5A Abilene Cooper was second with 41 points, followed by San Angelo Central with 70 and Abilene Wylie with 84. Each of those four programs competed in Class 5A or 6A, according to the meet results reported by KOXE.
Five Lady Lions finish in the top 10
Brownwood’s team victory was powered by a tightly grouped top five, with every scoring runner finishing among the meet’s top 10. Jordan Johnson led the Lady Lions in fourth place with a time of 19:59.2.
Alexus Gutierrez finished sixth in 21:21.56, followed by Rebekkah Delgado in seventh at 21:25.05. Destiny Sharp placed eighth in 21:42.64, and Lynlee Richmon rounded out the top five in ninth with a time of 21:57.18.
Brownwood also had several additional varsity runners among the field. Paisley Hill finished 13th in 22:19.59; Ailean Palacios was 17th in 23:20.08; Valeria Valadez-Trejo placed 18th in 23:21.34; and Ellie Mirahmadi-Zoghi finished 19th in 23.34.3. Ellie Lee was 24th in 24:40.81, Maybellene Ramirez 27th in 25:17.15, Linnie Thompson 31st in 26:18.65, Brooklyn Bouldin 32nd in 27:41.09 and Jailey Cisneroz 33rd in 27:43.4.
Brownwood boys place seventh
The Brownwood Lions finished seventh as a team in the varsity boys race with 211 points, one place ahead of the Zephyr Bulldogs, who scored 234 points. Zephyr entered the season ranked No. 3 in Class A cross country.
Juston Burt was Brownwood’s top varsity finisher, placing 30th in 18:52.0. Adrian Skrhak finished 35th in 19:09.18, Brayden Musick was 53rd in 19:54.31, Jonathan Skrhak placed 57th in 20:05.72 and Jonathan Solano finished 71st in 20:38.36.
San Angelo Central won the varsity boys team title with 16 points. Abilene Wylie scored 85 points for second, followed by Jim Ned with 91, Wall with 130, San Angelo TLCA with 178 and Reagan County with 189.
JV Lions finish third
Brownwood’s junior varsity boys placed third with 82 points, behind San Angelo Central at 15 and Jim Ned at 74. Zackary Clawson led the Lions in 15th place in 21:45.43, followed by Sam May in 18th at 22:24.05 and Rowdy Lucas in 21st at 22:53.81.
Kip Havens finished 26th in 23:39.28, Javier Garcia was 33rd in 24:08.3, Alex Fernandez placed 48th in 26:12.8, Ryder Lucas was 54th in 27:09.09 and Easton Copeland finished 59th in 28:5.52. No Brownwood girls competed in the JV division because all of the Lady Lions ran in the varsity race.
Brownwood and Zephyr are scheduled to return to competition Wednesday, Aug. 26, at the Brownwood Invitational at Riverside Park.