Houston Brooks attended the Governor’s Scholar Program at Centre College, liked what he saw and then when he returned home to Grayson County his cross country coach — who has a daughter living in Danville — reminded him what a great place it was.
That led Brooks to reach out to Centre College cross country/track coach Lisa Owens, made an “instant” connection with the Centre staff and decided Centre would be the best spot for him.
“First, there are not too many programs that have the facilities like the indoor one here. Then they showed me how much they cared about me,” Brooks, a Centre sophomore, said. “I had always honestly thought I would go to a bigger school but then I realized that Danville and Centre were perfect for me.
“The academics probably swayed my decision to come here more than anything along with being able to compete at the Division III level. Coach Owens has produced so many great runners and All-Americans. It was kind of a no-brainer that I could come here, get the best education possible and be on successful cross country and track teams.”
Brooks has been Centre’s top runner during the cross country season going into Saturday’s Southern Athletic Association Championship at Sewanee, Tenn. The sophomore completed the 8K course at the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble in 26 minutes, 48.7 seconds to place in the top 25 against some of the best competition in the Great Lakes Region recently. He won his first collegiate race at Berea in mid-September after a fourth-place finish at the Grizzly Invitational in Shelbyville, Ind., to start the season.
Brooks placed in the top 75 at the 2025 NCAA Great Lakes Regional and hopes to do even better at the same event Nov. 14 in East Lansing, Mich.
Brooks grew up playing basketball and baseball with his friends but his older siblings also ran cross country so he also ran along with playing the other sports. He made the decision to do “what was best for me” and give up basketball, a sport he loved, to concentrate on cross country and track in high school.
“I don’t regret my decision. I started running in second grade and loved it. That always helped me be in great shape for basketball, too. I think I helped connect friends from different sports to come together and be friends,” he said.
That connecting ability is like one reason Brooks is the first sophomore team captain Owens has had elected by teammates.
“I was really happy with that honor because being one of the younger guys on the team you don’t know if you will get that respect or not. It’s good to know my teammates see little Houston Brooks as somebody they can look up to and I always try to be there for my teammates,” he said.
“I’ve tried my best this season to not be like a dictator in the locker room but just be there to support teammates and try to push them. I am one of the smallest guys on the entire team but I am always thinking about other people whether it is during a workout or anywhere else. We are family and have amazing team chemistry and it makes me feel so good to know my teammates respect me the way they do.”
Being a team captain has also motivated him to train and do even more this season — Owens still believes he will develop into an elite runner during his time at Centre.
“Getting to NCAA (Division III) Championships is actually an idea I brought to her (Owens) at the end of track season. So the big goal for me would be to win conference and go from not even getting a medal (as a top finisher) a year ago to the very top of the podium this year,” he said.
“The expectation that I have for myself is to give everything that I have every day and put in the day to day work it takes to be successful. That’s why I think those ideas or dreams could become a reality if I continue to trend in the right direction. I thrive on discipline and running is a sport that demands that.
“Running is a simple sport but you still push your body to the limits. You can’t really relax. You have to think about the runner that you want to be and use that, and coach Owens, to motivate yourself every day.”