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Brenham junior Kristin Velazquez Romero poses for a photo with her individual medal after finishing in second place in the Varsity Orange race at the Grand Oaks Grizzly Cross Country Invitational on Friday morning. (Photo courtesy: Seth Spivey)

SPRING – Brenham’s cross country runners took to the course on Friday morning at the Grizzly Cross Country Invitational.

Both the Cubs and Cubettes earned sixth-place team finishes in the Varsity Orange race with three runners earning top-30 individual runs. The Varsity Orange races were held on 4,000-meter courses.

Junior Cubette Kristin Velazquez Romero led Brenham with a second-place time of 16 minutes, 43.44 seconds in the girls Varsity Orange race. Her efforts helped the Cubettes finish above C.E. King, Eisenhower, New Caney and Lamar in the team standings.

Sophomore Lila Zenns was second among the varsity Cubettes with a 34th-place time of 19:36.04. Fellow sophomore Chloe Zwahr finished in 41st place with a time of 19:51.32.

Senior Valentina Rodriguez crossed the line in 45th place with a time of 19:55.92. Junior Abby Escobedo rounded out the varsity Cubettes with a time of 25:55.72 for 78th place.

Sophomore Corbin Schluens led the varsity Cubs with a time of 14:56.25 and earned 24th place. Freshman Caleb Klotz also earned a top-30 time by crossing the line in 15:05.21, which was good for 29th place.

Senior Jake Zapata nearly joined them in the top 30 by earning 31st place with his time of 15:15.07. Sophomore Avrum Gamboa finished in 37th place with his time of 15:36.30. Junior Reese Baade rounded out the varsity Cubs with a 50th-place time of 16:37.43.

The Cubs’ sixth-place finish allowed them to finish ahead of Randle, Humble, C.E. King and Spring Westfield.

Six more Cubs and two more Cubettes ran in the junior varsity division, which also ran on a 4,000-meter course. Sophomore Marcus Estrello led the JV Cubs with a time of 17:58.17. 

Sophomores Jack Clover (20:05.96), Giovani Moreno (20:34.90) and Caleb Dyer (21:49.92) also ran the JV boys race with freshmen Kolton Nickerson (18:46.84) and Aldan Simone (20:07.44).

Cubette freshmen Emmi Villarreal and Cayla Colvin competed in the JV girls race and finished with times of 23:42.57 and 26:42.09, respectively.

Brenham’s runners will compete again on Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Caldwell Invitational, which will be contested at John E. Hejl Park.