ROUND ROCK – Fueled by Brad Beckham placing sixth individually, the New Diana boys cross country team placed second overall in Class 2A at the UIL State Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Old Settlers Park. New Diana finished with 99 points, second to Luling’s total of 68 points.

In Class A boys competition, Hunter Fair of Hawkins came away with a bronze medal by placing third overall individually.

Brad Beckham had a five-kilometer time of 16 minutes, 44.81 seconds. Garrett Mayeaux was the runner-up finisher among New Diana runners, coming in 24th in 17:40.23. Also competing for New Diana were Brent Beckham ( 33rd, 17:55.12), Cody Wager (44th, 18:09.05), Lane Duncan (59th, 18:31.25), Brandon Starr (98th, 20:24.17) and Brad Lennon (103rd, 20:49.79).

The top area placer among Class 2A boys was David Dorantes of Daingerfield. Dorantes placed fifth individually in a field of 106 runners. Dorantes had a time of 16:44.71, edging Brad Beckham by one-tenths of a second. Randy McLain of Onalaska won the state individual title in 16:16.82.

Fair had a time 16:46.22 in a field of 106 runners. Fair finished behind individual state champion William Roberts of Sanderson (16:37.21) and runner-up Andres Watson of San Perlita (16:45.44).

In Class 2A girls competition the top placer was Kayla Gardner of Elysian Fields. Gardner was 67th out of 110 runners with a two-mile time of 13 minutes, 48.60 seconds. Laura Mumford of Union Grove placed 82nd in 14:11.65. The Class 2A girls individual state champion was Carley Glass of Luling (11:50.49).

In Class 4A boys competition, Troy Jones of Marshall placed 66th out 111 runners. Jones had a time of 17:21.86. Ryan Teel of Friendswood won the Class 4A boys individual title in 15:42.35.

The New Diana boys cross country team has picked up where it left off.

Led by individual champion Brad Beckham, New Diana captured the varsity boys title of the Spring Hill Cross Country Invitational on Saturday at Lear Park. In the girls division, individual runner-up Christina Nelson led Pine Tree to a second-place finish as a team to T.K. Gorman.

Beckham used a finishing kick he started around the two-mile mark to finish the 2.9-mile boys course in 15 minutes, 39.22 seconds, ahead of runner-up Grady Frazier of T.K. Gorman (15:52.01).

Beckham’s teammates weren’t far behind. The top five New Diana runners placed in the top 30 of the 126-runner field. This gave New Diana 65 points, beating out Marshall (83 points) and Hallsville (84) for the team crown. Brent Beckham, Brad’s twin brother, placed 10th overall in 16:35.39.

Completing the top five for New Diana were Garrett Mayeaux (13th, 16:42.75), Lane Duncan (23rd, 17:14.62) and Cody Wager (30th, 17:30.09). New Diana’s top five runners are returners from a squad which advanced to the Class 2A UIL State Championships in 2010, placing seventh overall as a team.

The Beckhams are avid rodeo participants, but Brad Beckham said the work around it as well as more conventional offseason training from his cross country teammates has his squad driven for a return trip to state.

“I did team roping and hay bailing, but we have three guys on this team who ran all summer,” Brad Beckham said. “Our goal is to finish number one as a team and have all of us place in the top 10 individually.” ( to read the rest of the article, click the link above)