The 6-foot-2, 135-pound senior won the Class 6A state meet this past season, sparking the Tigers to the team title. Burns was also Arkansas’ fastest competitor at the national Brooks XC Championships, where he took 13th, Nike Cross Nationals (16th), the Southlake Carroll Invitational (3rd), the Chile Pepper XC Festival (3rd) and the NXN South Regional, where he crossed the line in a personal-best 14:45.6 to finish fourth. A Second Team All-American at NXN and Third Team All-American at Brooks, he concluded the year ranked No. 19 in the national MileSplit50.
Burns has maintained a 4.0 GPA in the classroom. He has signed a written letter of athletic aid to run at the University of North Carolina this fall.
Burns has been a member of his school’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Future Farmers of American chapters and has participated in an IT consulting internship with AIM Consulting in Rogers. He has also volunteered locally in association with a Brooks partnership, serving as a mentor to youth distance-running athletes.
