ROUND ROCK – Making their first appearance as a team at the UIL Cross County State Championships since 2017, the Brownwood Lady Lions produced what is believed to be the best the program’s best performance in school history with a seventh-place finish.
The 2017 squad came in ninth as a team, while the 2016 state team finished 13th.
Brownwood generated 205 points Friday at Old Settlers Park to place in the top half of the 16-team field. The Lady Lions trailed only state champion Canyon (45 points), runner-up Canyon Randall (74 points), and bronze medalist Salado (95 points), along with Dumas (175), Comal Davenport (181 points) and Fredericksburg (204 points)
Leading the charge for the Lady Lions was Sidney Windham with a 16th-place time of 11:54.6 along with Kate Tindol (26th 12:06.5), Kylea Karnes (92nd, 12:57.4), Talia Craff (94th, 12:57.8), Rebekkah Delgado (95th, 12.57.9), Braycee Lee (134th, 13:39.0), and Haylee Adkins (136th, 13:41.3).
“I’m so proud of this group of girls and everything they have poured into this program through the years and especially this season,” said Lady Lions head coach Chelsy Lipsey. “They set some big goals at the beginning of the season and they accomplished all of them! I couldn’t have asked for a better group to get to coach and I’m so thankful they got to run their last race together at the state meet. Getting to run at state is such a huge accomplishment and something they will remember forever.”