Burnet cross country wins 2 district titles, Marble Falls wins boys varsity championship

CAPTION: The Burnet High School girls varsity team captured the District 24-4A championship Oct. 10 at Marble Falls High School. Staff photo by Jennifer Fierro

Three of the four District 24-4A cross country championships are in Burnet County after impressive results at the district meet at Marble Falls High School Oct. 10.

The Burnet Lady Dawgs won both the varsity and junior varsity divisions. But the surprise may have been in the boys varsity race where Marble Falls took the championship as the first boys team in program history to be district champions and Burnet was the runner-up.

That’s because the team title came down to the Nos. 4 and 5 runners.

Burnet senior Hudson Bennett, the undisputed best runner in the 5K race, won his fourth consecutive individual district title in 16 minutes and 5 seconds. Right behind him was teammate Victor Aviles, a sophomore, who took silver in 16:12.

Marble Falls sophomore Tyler Hamblin earned bronze in 16:25, while junior Nick Dahl was fourth in 16:49.

Burnet sophomore Isaias Zarate outsprinted Marble Falls sophomore Blake Cockrell to the finish line. Zarate clocked 17:28 for fifth, while Cockrell finished in 17:32 for sixth.

Marble Falls sophomores Marco Almazan and Ezekiel Atkinson were 12th and 13th, respectively, in 18:23 and 18:24 to ensure the Mustangs took first in the team standings.

Meanwhile, sophomore Gustavk Vega was 22nd in 19:44 and freshman Josvanny Ramierez was 28th in 20:23 for the Bulldogs.

“We knew it was going to be between us and Marble Falls,” head coach Roy Kiser said. “I was confident my top three guys were going to be right there. Congratulations to Marble Falls. They got us. (Our last two runners) are young. They have a lot to learn. They’ve done a great job this year.”

Bennett will be going for his fourth consecutive individual regional championship.

“A parent told him congratulations,” Kiser said. “He told them they need to find Victor and tell him. You don’t want that kind of character to graduate. Victor has really been running well. He’s getting stronger and running better. He’s reaching his potential.”

While the Mustangs were thrilled to win the championship, few were happy with their individual times. Still, they indicated they had a strategy on what they wanted to do and executed it perfectly.

“We got first in district,” Almazan said. “All I could think about was passing (the Bulldogs). Luckily, I passed both of them for my finish.”

“Running this race felt really good,” Atkinson said. “I really focused in and what this race meant. It put motivation into me. We were going to get first in district — that was the motivation.”

“I did worse than I wanted to,” Dahl said. “I was really wanting to break 16 (minutes). I think it was the heat. I didn’t feel in the zone. I’m happy for our team, I really am happy for my teammates. You have to keep the mentality.”

Dahl and Hamblin said their goal was to stick as close to Bennett and Aviles as much as possible, which paid off with the four crossing the finish line before anyone else.

Cockrell said the Mustangs had this race circled for awhile.

“As happy as I am, it’s what I expected coming into this,” he said.

In the eighth-grade division, Burnet finished second in the team standings and Marble Falls was fourth. The Marble Falls seventh graders were third in the team standings.

No one disputed the best girls program in the district was wearing Kelly green.

“We sold them and tried to get them to believe they could win,” Kiser said. “We knew Lago Vista was really good. Running against them last week (at the Leonel Manzano Invitational Oct. 1) was good. We saw what we were running against, and we were able to get it done today.”

In the two-mile varsity race, freshman Asah Roy was second race in 12:27. Sophomore Kori Haile was eighth in 13:33, junior Cierra Blunt-Culpepper was ninth in 13:38, senior Autumn Stires was 10th in 13:44, and freshman Caroline Valencia was 11th in 13:44 to set a new personal best by five seconds in a finish she dedicated to her team.

“I was really tired, but I pushed myself,” she said. “The last 100 meters, I sprinted.”

Freshman Halle Maxwell clocked 13:50 for 13th overall and junior Amelia Griffin finished in 14:02 for 18th place.

“They run as a pack, and that’s a fantastic thing to do,” Kiser said, “We just want them to run faster. They trained together all year and improved their times. We’re super proud. We got third at district last year, and we win it this year. We got better this year.”

Roy said winning second felt “great.”

“I wanted to win — that was my goal,” she said. “I pushed really hard. This race went by pretty fast. I kept my head up and moved my feet.”

Advancing to regionals as individuals were Marble Falls freshman Tori Thompson who finished sixth in 12:55 and sophomore Chloe Ellis, who was 14th in 13:54.

Kiser’s comments about the varsity applied to the junior varsity.

“Three of those girls were running varsity for most of the season,” he said. “We’ve had them all year. Our top seven were the ones we picked to run (the varsity) race.”

The Marble Falls Lady Mustangs were third in the team division.

The Burnet Middle School eighth-graders finished third in the team standings, while the seventh-graders were fourth. The Marble Falls seventh-graders were fifth.

The Class 4A Region III meet is Oct. 24-25 at the Kate Barr Ross Memorial Park, 486 Texas 75 North in Huntsville.

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RESULTS

District 24-4A meet at Marble Falls High School

Oct. 10

Boys

Varsity (5K race, 38 runners)

1, Hudson Bennett (Burnet), 16:05; 2, Victor Aviles (Burnet), 16:12; 3, Tyler Hamblin (Marble Falls), 16:25; 4, Nick Dahl (Marble Falls), 16:49; 5, Isaias Zarate (Burnet), 17:28; 6, Blake Cockrell (Marble Falls), 17:32; 12, Marco Almazan (Marble Falls), 18:23; 23, Ezekiel Atkinson (Marble Falls), 18:24; 22, Gustavk Vega (Burnet), 19:44; 29, Josvanny Ramierez (Burnet), 20:23; 33, Matthew Resendez (Burnet), 21:26; 35, Hunter Holder (Marble Falls), 21:57.

Junior varsity (5K race, 33 runners)

15, Thomas McAnally (Burnet), 22:16; 27, Andrew Resendez (Burnet), 26:57; 32, Malin Nelson (Marble Falls), 26:06

Eighth grade (Two miles, 38 runners)

1, Hays Bennett (Burnet), 11:59; 3, Hector Vega-Palacios (Burnet), 12:25; 5, Owen Martin (Marble Falls), 12:43; 7, Christopher Hernandez (Burnet), 13:02; 16, Brazos White (Marble Falls), 13:59; 18, Michael Ellis (Marble Falls), 14:33; 22, Ryan Bueno (Marble Falls), 15:07; 23, Blaze Bailey (Burnet), 15:09; 24, Adan Carreon (Burnet), 15:22; 26, Jared Smith (Marble Falls), 16:06; 27, Connor Yaklin (Marble Falls), 16:11; 28, Sean Smith (Marble Falls), 16:11; 33, Ezra Bravo (Marble Falls), 18:11; 35, Colton Rutland (Marble Falls), 18:30; 38, Refugio Lara-Duran (Burnet), 20:18

Seventh grade (Two miles, 38 runners)

1, Logan Hargraves (Marble Falls), 12:22; 5, Daniel Edwards (Marble Falls), 14, Oliver Lyon (Marble Falls), 15:43; 17, Louis Stone (Marble Falls), 15:49; 19, Landon Fletcher (Marble Falls), 16:32; 26, Hudson Dehorty (Marble Falls), 18:00

GIRLS

Varsity (Two miles, 40 runners)

2, Asah Roy (Burnet), 12:27; 6, Tori Thompson (Marble Falls), 12:55; 8, Kori Haile (Burnet), 13:33; 9, Cierra Blunt-Culpepper (Burnet), 13:38; 10, Autumn Stires (Burnet), 13:44; 11, Caroline Valencia (Burnet), 13:44; 13, Halle Maxwell (Burnet), 13:50; 14, Chloe Ellis (Marble Falls), 13:54; 18, Amelia Griffin (Burnet), 14:02; 24, Synett Sital (Marble Falls) 14:37; 30, Carmella Lozano (Marble Falls), 15:13; 35, Ashley Ferreira (Marble Falls), 15:40; 38, Briseah Rivera (Marble Falls), 17:01; 39, Angelee Shaw (Marble Falls), 17:19

Junior varsity (Two miles, 38 runners)

1, 1, Nicole Rorie (Burnet), 14:17; 2, Josie McDavid (Burnet), 15:03; 3, Emilia Bolanos (Marble Falls), 15:14; 5, Brooke Bowman (Burnet), 15:30; 7, Amberlyn Glasscock (Burnet), 15:41; 8, Leslie Camacho (Burnet), 15:46; 9, Lainey Rye (Burnet), 15:56; 16, Haley France (Marble Falls), 17:05; 17, Jaylee Messier (Burnet), 17:07; 18, Dulce Macias (Marble Falls), 17:08; 20, Cayli Brydon (Marble Falls), 17:28; 23, Ruby Carrillo (Marble Falls), 17:42; 24, Avrie Wallace (Marble Falls), 17:44; 32, Ava McNamara (Marble Falls), 18:57; 34, Anna George (Marble Falls), 19:37; 35, Faith Closson (Marble Falls), 19:45; 37, Jimena Meza (Marble Falls), 19:56

Eighth grade (Two miles, 46 runners)

2, Abby Bennight (Burnet), 13:22; 6, Maylee Kates (Burnet) 15:09; 22, Savannah Griffin (Burnet), 17:31; 23, Addison Dehorty (Marble Falls), 17:31; 26, Makayla Cox (Burnet), 18:20; 27, Briana Morales (Marble Falls) 18:36; 28, Baylee Boswell (Marble Falls), 18:46; 29, Addy Holtzclaw (Burnet), 19:06; 34, Alison Vargas (Burnet), 20:33; 36, Jennie Gage (Marble Falls), 20:58

Seventh grade (Two miles, 46 runners)

7, Savannah Hamblin (Marble Falls), 15:35; 8, Avery Barth (Burnet), 15:51; 13, Emma Barry (Marble Falls). 16:29; 20, Rylee Culpepper (Burnet), 17:21; 26, Navaeh Perez (Burnet), 18:00; 27, Daphne Collar (Burnet), 18:14; 28, Alexis Whitley (Burnet), 19:04; 29, Hailey Duty (Marble Falls), 19:55; 31, Ava Saldivar (Burnet), 20:39; 32, Alaynna Alaniz (Marble Falls), 20:54; 33, Hadalye Hernandez (Marble Falls), 20:56; 43, Mackenzi Heidenreich (Marble Falls), 25:26