The Brownwood Lady Lions cross country team made program history Friday in Round Rock, earning sixth place at the UIL Class 4A Cross Country State Championships at Old Settlers Park. The result surpassed the team’s previous best state-meet finish, seventh place in 2024.
Brownwood scored 186 points in the Class 4A race. Canyon won the state championship with 44 points, followed by Salado with 74, Randall with 80, Decatur with 135 and Huffman Hargrave with 162.
Freshman sets school record
Freshman Alexus Gutierrez led the Lady Lions with a school-record time of 11:45.6, finishing 17th overall. Freshman Jordan Johnson placed 25th in 11:57.0, followed by freshman Lynlee Richmon in 66th at 12:44.7.
Freshman Ellie Mirahmadi-Zoghi finished 83rd in 12:54.1, while junior Rebekkah Delgado placed 87th in 12:56.0. Freshman Valeria Valadez Trejo came in 112th with a time of 13:14.6, and freshman Paisley Hill finished 127th in 13:32.0.
Brownwood cross country head coach Chelsy Lipsey said the team entered the meet aiming to improve on its previous state result and viewed the season as a foundation for future goals.
“Going in our goal was to beat what we did two years ago, which was finish seventh, and we were able to do that, and Alexus broke out school record overall so that was exciting,”
Lipsey said the team had hoped to finish among the top five but emphasized the returning experience ahead.
“Our goal was to be in the top five honestly, which we didn’t quite get, but everyone is coming back and six of them are freshmen. Now that we know what this is about, we’ll have even bigger goals next year of trying to finish on the medal stand.”
Other area runners compete
In the Class 2A girls race Friday morning, Bangs’ Adalynne Stephens finished 66th overall in 13:27.0. Coleman runners Savannah Hurtado and Victoria Guerrero placed 10th and 34th, respectively. Hurtado finished in 12:28.4, while Guerrero recorded 12:58.1.
Area competition at the state meet was scheduled to continue Saturday at Old Settlers Park. The Zephyr Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs, the Rising Star Lady Cats and Blanket’s Alex Valdes were set to compete in Class A action beginning at 9:30 a.m.