Tuesday, May 7, 1996

Little Rule brings home big-time wins from UIL

By JASON NEWMAN
Staff Writer

RULE - High school UIL participants here are beginning to believe that all that glitters truly is gold.
For the second time in two years, Rule students participating in University Interscholastic League competition brought home a large school's share of first-place awards from the Class A state competition in Austin.

Last year Rule students brought home five individual first-place awards at state, one team plaque for first place and a trophy for first place in Class A one-act play competition.

At the UIL state one-act play and academic competitions in Austin last weekend, 14 Rule students - more than one-fourth of the total student body - placed in eight competitions ranging from accounting to computer applications.

Though the state UIL office in Austin does not keep records that would indicate how rare such back-to-back achievements are, one representative was impressed with Rule's consistent performance.

"Rule seems to be really strong in math and science," said David Trussell, assistant to the UIL academic director. "They keep doing quite well."

Many of the winners this year won as juniors last year.

One such repeat champion, Cory Robinson, was a member of the first-place calculator applications, computer science, and mathematics teams; took first in calculator applications, mathematics, and biology; and was top scorer in science.

Robinson, who is heading to Abilene Christian University in the fall, said this year's academic meet equaled last year's in excitement, even though the students didn't have as much time for entertainment in Austin as they did last year.

"We had fun going to all these meets," Robinson said. "It's great to do well against these people who are the best in the state."

As for his impression of Austin the second time around, Robinson just smiled and said, "hot and humid."

A major motivator in Robinson's back-to-back UIL victories, he said, was encouragement from his father, Bobby Robinson, who directed the one-act play that placed third at state this year.

Even though "Crimes of the Heart" didn't win first like last year's "Steel Magnolias," several of the cast members said they were glad their neighbors to the south, Trent, won with "The Foreigner."

"We gave them a standing ovation," said Denise Wilson, a "Crimes of the Heart" cast member and member of the first-place calculator applications, computer science and mathematics teams.
Like the father-and-son Robinsons, the Rule UIL winners and their coaches have a definite feeling of family.

As Bobby Robinson puts it, "This isn't just something that happened by accident."
Sponsors Robinson, Jerry Cannon and Alice Jones all spent long hours teaching their students how to excel at their events.

Jones saw years of coaching the computer science team pay off when this year's team of Kacy Baitz, Cory Robinson and Denise Wilson won first place.

Until that victory, no Rule team had been able to beat Lazbuddie, a community in the Panhandle.
Another payoff came when her daughter, Meagan, was named to the UIL all-star one-act play cast.
Math teacher Jerry Cannon, like Jones, has spent hundreds of hours helping Rule students with UIL events and keeping them supplied with what he calls "brain food," - Dr Pepper and doughnuts.

All three teachers admit this is a special class of seniors.

While sitting in the Rule LRC Monday, sponsors and students alike are reminded of that fact by senior one-act play all-star cast member Julie Saffel.

"It'll be so boring around here without us," Saffel mused.