Burnet Water Dawg athletes Savanna Meadows and Seth Timmons competed at the State UIL Swimming and Diving Meet over the weekend and both did an excellent job.

It was senior diver Savanna Meadows’ second time at state and she improved on her fifth place finish from last year with a fourth place finish to end her high school career.

"It was a very competitive meet this year and there was a ton of good divers,” said Meadows.

Though her career at BHS is over Meadows already has big plans for her future and of course they involve diving.

"After high school I plan on diving for the United State’s Air Force Academy. I love learning and perfecting new dives. I enjoy the rush of learning something new and the feeling that you get when you finally nail a dive.”

Meadows will also leave her name in the history books and she says that is one goal she worked so hard to accomplish.

"I am confident that my name will be on the natatorium and school record books for a long time. It has been my goal for the last two years and achieving that was a great accomplishment for me,” said Meadows.

Burnet junior Seth Timmons is already no stranger to the state meet. This was his third year to earn the right to compete and his third place finish in the 500 free was his best yet. He took fifth in the event last year. This year he also swam in the 200 free at state and placed 12.

"This year’s state meet was one of the fastest meets, not just for my events, but for all the events,” said Timmons.

Timmons loves the water and really doesn’t spend time in the offseason.

"I don’t have an offseason, but after my big meets I will take a week off from the pool and just work out in the gym or go for a run.”

Swimming for Seth is a way to gain opportunities and open doors.

"Because of my accomplishments in this sport I have been to the Olympic training center, state three times, California, and I am about to go to Florida for my first National junior meet,” said Seth.

Even though high school swimming is over for now Timmons will continue working hard. In addition to the upcoming National Junior Meet he will also be swimming at the Open Water Nationals in California, a meet that he was personally invited to.

BHS coach Nancy Moore commented on her swimmers saying, "I am so very proud of them and all their hard work this year. Continue to expect big things out of the Water Dawgs.”

For photos from the meet pick-up Wednesday's Burnet Bulletin.

The Burnet Lady Bulldog track team competed in Lake Travis this past Saturday against Austin Bowie, Leander, Vandegrift, Lampasas, Hutto, Lake Travis, Dripping Springs, Cedar Park, and Westwood.

"This was a highly competitive meet for us this early in the year and a good start for Burnet Lady Dawg track,” said coach Doug Messer.

Both the JV and varsity girls finished fifth. The JV girls scored 63 points, while the varsity totalled 65.

For individual results pick-up Wednesday's Burnet Bulletin.

For the first time in several years the BHS girls have enough players to field a complete girls golf team. The four girls, who played at Llano last Thursday, may not be at the top of their game yet, but they are very excited about this year and what they can accomplish.

As a team they scored a 455 which was good enough to earn them a 10 place finish out of 14 teams.

Sophomores Jodi Hill and Lauren Beckwith both have golf experience at the high school level. Jodi played last year with her Jalee, who is a senior, as the only two female golfers competing for Burnet. Beckwith moved to Burnet this year. As a freshman she was a member of the state second place girl’s team from Lampasas.

Beckwith placed 23 at the state golf tournament last year and hopes that experience will carry over this year.

Taylor Carroll and Hunter Holmes, both freshman, are the other two members of the improving team.

Their finish this week is not the most important thing. These girls are happy to have a team and can’t wait to represent Burnet at the district meet.

Burnet swimmer Seth Timmons and diver Savanna Meadows each earned a spot at the upcoming state swim meet with some fantastic finishes at this weekend’s regional meet. Meadows qualified in the girls 1-meter diving with a final score of 445.20 which earned her a regional silver.

Timmons earned his place with a second place finish in the boys 500 free with a time of 4:38.19; and in the boys 200 free with a 1:44.15 for a fourth place finish.

Mandee Harris also competed individually at the regional meet. Harris finished in 12 in the 100 free finals with a 57.35. Jordan Gallardo, who just started diving this year, put up a score of 273.00 in the prelims but was disqualified in the finals.

To read about the rest of the regional results pick-up Wednesday's Burnet Bulletin.

Burnet junior Joe Parker represented the Burnet Cross Country team Saturday at the State Meet which was held at Old Settler’s Park in Round Rock.

Parker did an awesome job taking 24 out of 104 of the states best runners with a 5K time of 17:24.

"To help put his placing into perspective, Joe placed 10 at Regionals, but at the State Meet he placed fifth compared to the same athletes from his region who also qualified for state,” said coach Stuart Dixon.

Parker moved to Burnet with his parents, Tim and Julie from Milwaukee, Wisconsin in his sixth grade year and that’s where his cross country career officially began, although he says he has always had a love for the sport.

"When I was little I used to have my Grandpa time me running around a big circle in our neighborhood,” said Parker.

To read more on Joe Parker pick up Wednesday's Burnet Bulletin.

Burnet’s Water Dawgs competed at the Killeen High School Monster Mash on Saturday. As a combined team the Dawgs brought home a sixth place finish with 82 points.

Girls 100 Broomstick: Burnet, third, 3:07.34, Sydney Cardenas, Savannah Sethman, Ashley Free, and Mandee Harris.

Boys 100 Broomstick: Burnet, sixth, 2:36.10, Angel Romero, Jordan Gallardo, Evan Murchison, and Seth Timmons.

Girls 100 Free: Harris, first, 1:01.33.

Boys 100 Free: Nathan Justus, 13, 1:05.61; and Dustin Barnett, 15, 1:10.42.

Boys 100 IM: Murchison, 10, 1:26.60.

Girls 50 Free: Samantha Stephens, 22, 39.72.

Boys 50 Free: Romero, 15, 26.72; Carlos Lopez, 22, 29.83; and Gallardo, 25, 31.03.

The Burnet Water Dawgs hosted their first meet of the season on Friday with their annual Steve Ham Hoot-N-Holler meet.

"What a fantastic meet,” said Burnet swim coach Nancy Moore. "It was fun for all and the swimmers produced some great times. We voted Ty Wynn as our meet champion.”

The Hoot-N-Holler is always a crowd pleaser with some interesting races that include a which hat relay, broomstick relay, and sweatshirt relay in addition to more traditional races.

Dripping Springs won the mens, womens, and combined team scores. Burnet finished seventh in the womens and sixth in the mens.

For individual results pick-up Wednesday’s Burnet Bulletin.

Burnet’s cross country team ran in an important race last Thursday in Lampasas and got a good look at the district course which is also being held in Lampasas on Oct. 24.

The boys team placed fifth out of eight teams and the girls placed fourth out of seven.

Burnet had three team members pick up individual medals including Joe Parker, second, Kathryn Drake, fourth; and Shaylah Hullum, 15.

During two-a-days in late August bad news quickly spread throughout Burnet’s athletic community that one of their own was seriously injured in an accident while playing with his son.

Burnet high school and middle school coach, Nate Turner, who joined the Bulldogs in 2005, was swinging at the lake when the swing broke which caused him to fall nearly seven feet.

Turner landed in a seated position and was immediately in severe pain in the lower back. The family called in EMS and he was quickly transported to Brackenridge Hospital in Austin.

The X-rays confirmed that Turner broke the L1 vertebra and he immediately went into surgery to get pieces off the spine.

The first surgery was a success and Turner and his family were thrilled to find he had some ability to wiggle his feet and bend his knees when asked to. Turner’s mom, Debbie Turner said, "Only time will tell if he will have a full recovery.”

On Friday, Aug. 31 Turner underwent another surgery to further stabilize his back and once again doctors agree that the surgery was a success.

For more information on Nate's recovery see Wednesday's Burnet Bulletin.