UPDATE – Deonte Brown placed 35th in the state competition, the best finish for Haywood High in 20 years!

Haywood High School junior Deonte Brown competed in the regional cross country race and made his fellow teammates and coach proud. He finished in eighth place, which was good enough for him to qualify for the Class A-AA State Cross Country Meet, which will be held November 3 in Nashville. He’s the first Haywood cross country runner to qualify for state since Trista Rivers did in 2007.

According to his coach, David Claybrooks, Brown ran an 18:33 at the 3.1-mile region meet course. Brown was in third place for most of the race, leading the second pack
of runners that included nine runners from other schools. But Brown held on to finish in the top 10, which is necessary to qualify.

“He’s been nervous for a while,” Claybrooks said. “He’s been in the newspaper, on the radio. I was really proud of him.”

Haywood seniors Joshua Wilson (27th, 20:19) and DeMarious Douglas (34th, 20:30) also competed and ran personal bests. “I’m really, really proud of my top three,” Claybrooks said. As a team, Haywood finished seventh out of 11 teams, beating out rivals Covington, Dyersburg and Peabody. “It was our best finish in 20 years,” Claybrooks said. “We missed sixth place by seven points.”