After a very strong performance at the Area VII FFA Fall Career Development Events in Bandera, the Blanco FFA Chapter qualified for state in all four fall CDEs. This marks the 18th consecutive year that the Blanco FFA will be advancing to compete at the State FFA CDEs at Tarleton State University in April with hopes of advancing to the national contests in Oklahoma City in May.
Of the 8 divisions that were available for competition, Blanco placed 1st in 7 and 4th in the other. Individual students winning High Point honors included: Ryan Edwards in the homesite division, Bret Leigh Nance in the alternate Plant ID competition, Kenny Omo in the alternate land event, Kari Graham in the range contest, Ryan Bible in Plant ID, Payton Savarino in the alternate range contest, and Robbie Arlitt in the alternate homesite division.
In addition to winning 7 of the 8 events, of the 41 Blanco FFA members that competed in the 8 different contests, 38 placed in the top 10 of their respective events. In addition to those students winning high point individual, other local students competing at last week’s state qualifying CDE’s included: Phil Alvarado, Devlin Moore, Carlin Green, James McFarlin, Brandon Bankston, Colby Batey, Jubal Elrod, Joe Perkins, Savannah Kershaw, Jamie McClinton, Dru Ramirez, Taylor Guinn, Megan Wier, Lainie Parker, Deanna Sevilla, Meaghan Seales, Ian Kirkland, Cheyenne Klein, Amanda Guthrie, Diego Alegria, Sara Jean Martinez, Maryn McMain, Cross Caldwell, Emily Romero, Mason LeBlanc, Alley Penshorn, Logan Dodd, Katherine Biggs, Dylan Bates, Rance Dollahite, Abbie Culton, Kyle Gray, Kristin Bowman, and Kyle Sauceda.
In all, there are more than 120 schools 1A to 5A that compete in Area VII. Blanco was the only school to win multiple events. Advisors for the Blanco FFA are Felice and Jason Marek.
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