LIPAN – The Brownwood Lions varsity cross country team placed second at the Lipan Invitational Wednesday with 86 points, just five points off the pace of meet champion Ponder, which garnered 81 points.
Bennett Windham led the charge for Brownwood with a fourth-place time of 17:31.91, followed by Aidan Pena (15th, 18:25.61), Jayden Sanchez (17th, 18:27.01), Stephen Rodriguez (18th, 18:28.03), Noah Lambert (32nd, 19:05.21), Hayden Muir (45th, 19:35.24), and Ross Strasner (49th, 19:44.02).
In JV action Wednesday, the Lions won the team championship with 52 points, edging out runner-up Bridgeport (63).
The top finisher for the JV Lions was Valente Cardenas in seventh place clocked at 20:11.5, trailed by Jose Rodriguez (11th, 20:35.3), Kayden Hernandez (12th, 20:46.84), Alejandro Gomez (18th, 21:26.69), Tru Pesina (19th, 21:36.94), Brayden Musick (25th, 22:22.48), Bryce Booth (26th, 22:26.24), Hayden Padgett (27th, 22:27.53), Jonathan Solano (29th, 22:37.36), EJ Stanfield (30th, 22:37.99), and Malachi Wyatt (53rd, 26:52.62).
The Lady Lions will be competing Saturday at the Abilene Invitational.
Both the Lions and Lady Lions are set to compete in the Dublin FCA meet on Wednesday, Sept. 18.