Following a lengthy delay brought on by the UIL and its COVID-19 sports restrictions, the cross country season for the Brownwood Lions and Lady Lions will finally begin Wednesday with the Brownwood Invitational.

For the second year in a row, the race will begin at Gordon Wood Stadium, circle the Bert V. Massey Sports Complex, wind through Festival Park and conclude back at the stadium.

The Lady Lions are slated to run at 2 p.m. Wednesday with the Lions set to begin at 2:30 p.m. Start times for the JV girls and boys will be 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m., respectively.

The Lady Lions placed third at the district meet last season, but will need to improve on that this year to keep their decade-plus long of regional appearances intact.

Among the additional changes with cross country this year, the UIL is allowing just two teams from each district to advance to regionals, and three teams from regionals will move on to state. Also, no more than eight teams can run at a time at any meet, which could result in stacked start times at larger events.

Lady Lions head coach Chesney Neely believes her crew is up for the challenges that await.

“Things are going really well,” Neely said. “Just with the weird summer, it’s made kids eager and they’re working hard in the heat. They’re still getting after it. It’s been great because we’ve had some soccer and basketball kids come out and join us, and some on the volleyball team, so that’s helped with our numbers a little bit.

“We’re really getting after it, trying to build a foundation since we felt like we lost some time. We want to make sure that foundation is there and the kids are really putting forth a lot of effort right now which is what we really like to see the first couple of weeks.”

Among the Lady Lions to keep an eye on, Neely mentioned Naysa Leach, CarolAnn Hetzel and Kinnison Harvey.

“Who is going to be in the top 7 right now is anybody’s game,” Neely said. “They just have to keep working hard and showing us what they’ve got. Naysa Leach and CarolAnn Hetzel are two great kids that got after it last year for us and went to regionals as part of the team. We have some young kids who are coming up also, some freshmen who are loud and proud and are getting after it right now. Kinnison Harvey is another great kid that runs, too, and she has volleyball as well.”

For the Lions, Scott Swanzy – who served as the assistant coach last season – is attempting to lead the program back to the regional meet after missing out a year ago.

“We’ve been working since June,” Swanzy said. “We’ve done summer workouts, we’ve done mileage, we’ve done tons of core work, a lot of weight training. We’ve put some mileage in and I feel so much better than I did last year going into the season.”

Swanzy stated the Lions had a race-off this past Friday with Caleb Nelson and Cameron Phipps posting the best times of 17:25 and 18:01.

“That got my attention and I think they had a little more in the tank,” Swanzy said. “It will be interesting to see those two this year.”

Rounding out the current top five are Andrew Boren, Vincent Floyd and Hunter Glass, with Eli Menchaca and Elijah King knocking on the door.

“I’m looking for that top five to really make a statement,” Swanzy said. “The top five runners are who we take our time from, so it’ll be really exciting to see what they can do. They start on their home turf at the Brownwood Invitational and they ran the course last year, so they’re primed and ready to go.”

Brownwood will compete in District 6-4A this year along with Stephenville, Glen Rose, Gatesville and Lampasas.

“There’s going to be a little more competition than what it’s been previously,” Neely said of the new district. “Lampasas is hosting an invitational before they host district so we get to go down and see the course and prepare for district.”

Swanzy added, “I really feel that we can battle for district. I really want to go challenge Stephenville. We’ve put in the work so far, if we can just keep on pushing forward and gaining at the rate that we are I’m really expecting to make a run at it.”

BROWNWOOD HIGH VARSITY

CROSS COUNTRY SCHEDULE

Sept. 2 Brownwood Invitational, 2/2:30 p.m.

Sept. 9 at Hico Invitational

Sept. 16 at Glen Rose Invitational

Sept. 26 at Gatesville Invitational

Oct. 2 at Lampasas Invitational

Oct. 7 at Stephenville Invitational

Oct. 14 at Anson Invitational

Oct. 21 at Moody Invitational

Oct. 28 District 6-4A (at Lampasas)

Nov. 9 Region I-4A Meet (at Lubbock)

Nov. 23 Class 4A State Meet (at Round Rock)