AUSTIN – Two of the Brownwood Lady Lions’ five entrants into the UIL Class 4A Track and Field State Championships landed on the medal stand, and the team as a whole finished in seventh place in the final standings with 22.33 points.
Sophomore Grace Sparks set a new personal record in the pole vault, clearing a height of 12-9 to capture a silver medal. Sparks had set a new personal-best at the Region I-4A meet of 12-0, which landed her in second place, and she surpassed that mark twice Thursday en route to a runner-up finish in her state debut.
“I’m really happy and proud,” Sparks said, adding of her run of personal bests Thursday, “I’m not really sure what happened. It was all so surreal to me. I didn’t really know what was happening, I kept praying between each jump and giving it to God and trying not to let my nerves get the best of me. I surprised myself. I just tried and to come out and give it my all. I wanted this really bad, and I practiced really hard. I just wanted to come out and have fun today.”
Lady Lions head coach Chelsy Lipsey added, “Grace being a sophomore, almost everyone she competed against was a senior, with the exception of one junior, and to go 12-9 as a sophomore with two more years is huge. She’s a hard worker and will only get better.”
Sparks finished behind only state champion Kira Bowman of Nevada Community, a Texas Tech commit that cleared 14-0.5.
The 2025 state champion in the 200 meters, junior Kaya Phillips, came 4 one-hundredths of a second away from back-to-back titles, despite running a new school record and personal-best time.
Phillips was clocked at 23.66 – faster than the 23.75 she ran in 2025 to win the state championship – but Arysa Cooper of Tyler Chapel Hill turned in a 23.62 to snatch the crown.
“I feel good about the school record and the new personal best, but I could have fought harder,” Phillips said. “It is what it is, it’s over now, but I did what I did to get something.”
That “something” was Phillips’ fourth state medal of her career, but Thursday’s result has already kindled a new fire in the Lady Lion as she eyes her senior year.
“This is going to drive me a whole lot, more than it did this year,” Phillips said. “I’ll definitely go all out when I need to, don’t hold anything back, and fight for it.”
Lipsey added, “I know Kaya’s upset right now, but we’re going to figure out different things to do next year to get here down here in more things. Maybe run in the 100, that’s something we’ve talked about. But both Grace and Kaya are great kids you love to coach, and we’ll have others coming back that will have to step up, but we’ll do our best to get them ready.”
Also Thursday, the 2025 4×100 relay state championship foursome of Icess Hall, Phillips, Jade Morin and Aniah Hines placed fifth in a time of 47.24 – their best of the season. However, even if the Lady Lions matched the school-record 47.0 they ran to win the state title last year, they still would have finished fifth behind Dallas Lincoln’s state record of 45.86, along with Tyler Chapel Hill (46.52), Madisonville (46.66), and Sunnyvale (46.78).
The 4×200 relay – also comprised of Hall, Morin, Hines and Phillips – ran as a unit for the first time since before the District 6-4A meet as they were clocked at 1:39.91 – good for sixth place. Tyler Chapel Hill took home the gold with another state record time of 1:37.93.
Thursday began with the high jump, as senior Hannah Deen – who earlier this year broke her own school record by clearing 5-8 – made her third state appearance. Despite clearing the third best height of the day at 5-6, more previous misses (2) than the three girls ahead of her (0, 1 and 1) resulted in a sixth-place finish. Ryanne Meyer of Sealy won the state title clearing 5-9, followed by silver medalist Roscan Hadnot of Jasper (5-8), and De’Ari Porter-Moore of Dallas Carter (5-6).
For Deen, Morin, Hines and Hall, Thursday’s meet concluded some of the most storied track and field careers in Brownwood history.
“These seniors have been a huge part of everything.,” Lipsey said. “When I got here their sophomore year winning a district championship was crazy to them, and then their junior year they win a state championship. They’re upset right now, but I gave them a big hug and told them I loved them. One day they’re going to look back on this, and that state championship they won is what we’ll all be reaching for all. They’ll all excel in whatever they do, and a couple of them are going on to the next level and I’m excited to see them compete there.”
The 2025 Class 4A state champion Lady Lions placed seventh in the state Thursday with 22.33 points. Brownwood trailed state co-champs Canyon and Dallas Lincoln with 58 points each, third-place Tyler Chapel Hill (56), fourth-place Sunnyvale (42), fifth-place Waxahachie Life (36), and sixth-place Kingsville King (23).
“People night have thought last year so easy, but a lot of things have to go right and you have to get a little lucky, too,” Lipsey said. “This year we had a great year, too, as district champions, area champions and regional champions, you can’t take away from that. We knew this year with the times and jumps it was to be going to be tough. We wanted a little better outcome on some things, but some people compete in track and never get to come here and compete at this level. So for them to do that, they’re going to remember this forever, and I couldn’t be more proud.”