Burnet High School marching band takes third in state finals
SAN ANTONIO — The Burnet High School Esprit de Corps didn’t let a little rain ruin their parade — and they have the bronze medal from the Class 3A state marching band competition to prove it.
The Esprit de Corps, which consists of the band, the flag corps and the Highlandettes dance team, earned third place in on Nov. 5 after being the last of 10 bands to perform in the University Interscholastic League state finals.
The Burnet band also was the only group to get rained on while warming up outside of the Alamodome.
"It was torrential downpour," band director Kevin Heckaman said. "We went last. We got rained on. It gave us a spark."
Though the group was soaked, Heckaman credited fans for keeping the Bulldogs focused on their task —to earn a state title.
"The support was amazing," he said. "The kids could feel that. I think they played off of that."
The band director said he was surprised by the finish in the finals because Burnet placed seventh in the preliminaries earlier in the day. They didn’t perform in the finals until 8:45 p.m.
"To jump from seventh to medal contention is pretty impressive and it worked," he said.
Five new judges oversaw the final round, which meant the scores from the prelims also got thrown out.
In the finals, the Bulldogs were ranked as high as second and as low as seventh. Heckaman said the scores are averaged together for a final ranking.