Brown County will be represented both Friday and Saturday at the UIL Cross Country State Championships at Old Settlers Park in Round Rock, as the Zephyr Bulldogs will compete at 10:40 a.m. Friday while Brownwood Lady Lion junior Sidney Windham will run at 11:40 a.m. Saturday.
The Bulldogs finished fourth as a team at the Region III-A boys cross country meet at Lynn Creek Park in Grand Prairie on Oct. 23. Eli Williams led the charge for Zephyr in third place overall with a time of 16:55.93 followed by Jim Evetts (10th, 17:56.21), Aaron Fagan (14th, 18:05), Riley McCuller (21st, 18:33.63), Cash Whisenhunt (64th, 20:52.96), Reese Hamm (81st, 21:43.87) and Cooper Walls (104th, 23:28.43).
The Bulldogs, who left for Round Rock Thursday morning, have an excellent chance to medal at state as they advanced from the toughest Class A region in the state. Placing behind Slidell, Sulphur Bluff and Miller Grove at regionals, Zephyr ranks fifth overall with an average regional meet time of 18:28 by its runners. Region I champion Jayton, with an 18:27, ranks to fourth to join the four Region I qualifiers in the to five.
Williams’ regional time of 16:55.93 was the fifth-fastest in all of Class A, while Evetts’ time of 17:56.21 ranked 21st.
Windham earned her berth at the Region I-4A meet at Mae Simmons Park in Lubbock on Oct. 24 as she placed 16th overall, and seventh among runners not on a state-qualifying team, in a time of 13:00.5.
Windham, who was on the Brownwood Lions Coach’s Show on KOXE earlier this week, said, “Last year I missed state by .2 seconds, I was one place off, so that lit a fire in me to get after and work hard and achieve that goal.”
Regarding her emotions when learning she qualified for state, Windham said, “I cried. I was really excited and jumping up and down. My grandparents were there and were super excited for me. I gave all my family hugs. Neither of my parents ran in high school, I wasn’t super fast middle school either, but as I’ve developed and grown I’ve loved running. It’s one way I can release my stress and not think. I just got out and run really hard.”
Windham credited her younger brother Bennett, a freshman who led the Lions in most of their cross country meets this year, for her improved times this year.
“He definitely pushes me to run faster,” she said. “Just watching him and his determination, he’s a speedy little kid so he got me wanting to run faster just because he works so hard at it. We ran together a lot over the summer, but sometimes I don’t run with him because he stresses me out with watching our pace. He’s definitely contributed to my drive of wanting to be a faster runner.”
As for her state expectations, Windham said, “I know every running there will be super nervous, but I’m nowhere near as nervous as I was for regionals. I made it ot the state meet, I’m there, so now I want to see how fast I can run and hopefully land a PR. I’ve never run at this course before, I think it’s a lot flatter than Lubbock, which is a really tough course, so I’m shooting for a 12:30, 12:40, but if I can PR I’m going to be proud.”