Burnet athletics finishes Lone Star Cup race in the top 25
The University Interscholastic League announced final standings for the Lone Star Cup races in all classes, and Burnet High School finished No. 23 in Class 4A.
Athletic director Kurt Jones presented the results during the Burnet Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees meeting June 20.
“I think it’s the highest overall finish for us since they started that (competition),” he said. “That’s about out of 230 Class 4A schools. We feel like it was a great year for us collectively.”
In late March Burnet was No. 11 that included the season finishes of volleyball, boys and girls cross country, girls basketball and girls soccer. All those teams qualified for Class 4A Region III tournaments and meets. A few weeks later, the UIL added finishes in other sports, and Burnet dropped to No. 15.
Though rising senior runner Hudson Bennett earned two Class 4A state medals — repeating as the 3,200-meter champion and capturing the silver medal in the 1,600 meters — the UIL didn’t award points from that meet.
“It’s really tough to score in the Lone Star Cup,” the athletic director said. “An entire track team has to finish first, second, third, fourth or fifth to get points.”
Burnet also had sports that didn’t make the playoffs: football, boys soccer and softball. Jones cited tough competition in district play and relying on players who made their varsity debuts for the first time as reasons why.
“A handful of our programs are in the process of turning the corner,” he said. “Those that didn’t make a big splash in scoring have the chance to score next year.”
Jones also released the results of the Bulldog Cup, a race he started three years ago where each Burnet team, including freshman and junior varsity squads with varsities, and athletes can earn points in that race. He noted that until the 2021-22 school year, the most points scored by the athletic department in an academic year was in the 50s.
“We thought we were going to have a chance to blow past that,” he said. “We ended up scoring 72 Bulldog Cup points.”
The most by one program came from girls basketball where all three teams were the District 19-4A champions. They earned 17 points followed by volleyball with 11 points and girls soccer with 10. Bennett was the top scoring individual with seven points that included finishing fifth at the Class 4A cross country state meet.
While Jones was proud and pleased for coaches and athletes, he put these accomplishments in perspective.
“It’s a good measuring stick, but it doesn’t tell the complete story,” he said. “We’re in the business of shaping young people to be great for the rest of their lives. We think it’s relative to look back at that stuff. It’s a collective ladder to climb together.”
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