From the hardwood to the gridiron and beyond, taking a look back and ahead at the San Antonio-area high school sports landscape:

By the numbers
500: Career wins for Central Catholic soccer coach Walter Rule, who reached the milestone during the Buttons’ 3-0 victory vs. LEE on Dec. 29. He is the fourth coach in San Antonio-area history with 500 wins, joining former Reagan girls coach Frankie Whitlock, former Alamo Heights boys coach Bruce Fink and former Saint Mary’s Hall girls coach Brian Kaestner.
Rule is in his first season at Central Catholic and 32nd overall. He previously coached at Rockport, MacArthur, Reagan, Clark (boys and girls teams) and Antonian.
A 2014 inductee into the Texas Association of Soccer Coaches Organization (TASCO) Hall of Honor, Rule led Reagan to the UIL state championship in 2002 and the state finals in 2004. His 2015 Clark boys team started the season 21-0 and earned a No. 7 national ranking, while his 2017 Clark boys squad advanced to the Region IV-6A tournament.

7: Days until the UIL allows high school softball teams across the state to conduct their first after-school workouts on Jan. 12. The first day of the season is Feb. 12, with the state tournament scheduled to be contested May 28-June 1 at the University of Texas’ McCombs Field in Austin.
New Braunfels Canyon (Class 5A) and D’Hanis (1A) were state finalists in 2023.

4: Area volleyball athletes that earned spots on Vballrecruiter All-America team.
Cornerstone’s Grace Carroll made the publication’s senior squad, teammate Megan Fitch made the junior team, Harlan’s Da’Mya Mann made the sophomore team and Reagan’s Lauren Garcia is on the freshman squad.
It is the third All-America team that Fitch, who is committed to Texas A&M, has been named to this season. She made the MaxPreps All-America first team and earned honorable mention on the Volleyball magazine All-America team.
Garcia earned her second All-American honor after previously being named to MaxPreps All-America freshman squad.

2: Media outlets that have the Clark girls basketball team listed in their national rankings. The Cougars are No. 13 in MaxPreps Top 25 and No. 14 in ESPN’s SCNext Top 25. Clark is the defending UIL Class 6A state champion.

Notebook
State’s finest: Harlan’s Aniya Joseph and Da’Mya Mann, Kerrville Tivy’s Taylor Kubacak and Davenport’s Talan Dodson and Logan Strong were selected to the Texas Sports Writers Association All-State team.
Dodson, a senior outside hitter headed to Sam Houston State, was the organization’s Class 4A player of the year and was joined by Strong, a junior libero. Davenport’s Taylour Toso was coach of the year after guiding the Wolves to the UIL 4A state championship in just her second season.
Joseph and Mann made the 6A squad after helping Harlan advance to its first state tournament. Kubacak earned a spot on the 5A. She and Joseph are signed with NCAA Division II power West Texas A&M, which won the national crown in 2022 and was runner-up this fall.

Area signings/commitments
Carmen Massay, Alamo Heights soccer: St. Edward’s