The Blanco FFA Land, Range, Homesite and Plant ID teams recently competed in the Area VII FFA Fall Career Development Events at the Joshua Springs Park and Preserve in Kendall County. More than 350 contestants from across the area competed for the privilege of advancing to their respective state contests this coming spring. As a chapter, Blanco took home 5 of the 8 Area Championships while placing 2nd in three other events and qualifying for state in each contest.
Winning an Area Championship and advancing to state is the Homesite Evaluation team of Robbie Arlitt, Cross Caldwell, Savannah Kershaw and Maryn McMain. Individually, these four all placed high with Robbie finishing 3rd, Savannah 4th, Cross 5th and Maryn 13th. Blanco also placed 1st in the alternate homesite division with John Adams, Sara Jean Martinez and Kameron Martinez claiming the top 3 spots in that order while Joshua Copenhaver and Jonathan Campbell placed 5th and 7th.
Blanco’s Plant ID team will also be advancing to state after winning the area title. Individually, Brenna Wallace, Joaquin Olmedo, Wade Wardlow and Jacob Robinson just missed taking the top 4 spots, placing, in order, 2nd through 5th. Blanco’s alternate team in the plant ID division also placed 1st overall with Jacob Fuller and Garrett Seales placing 1st and 2nd to claim the top 2 spots while Colby Batey finished in 3rd followed by Molly Edmondson in 5th, Kaleigh Griffin in 6th, Denise Edwards 7th, Kendall Hartmann 8th, Dalton Savanich 9th, Maggie Reininger 13th and Nadine Ramirez 17th.
In the land evaluation event, Blanco will be advancing to state after placing 2nd overall. Individually, Ryan Bible placed 2nd with James McFarlin and Devlin Moore tying for 6th. CJ LoValvo also did well placing in the top 50%. Blanco would also finish 2nd as a team in the Alternate Land division with Kenny Peyton and Logan Parker placing 4th and 5th respectively and Justin Williams ranking 10th.
Finally, Blanco will also be advancing to state in the range and pasture competition as a result of their 2nd place finish. Logan Dodd and Payton Savarino each placed in the top 10 at 3rd and 7th respectively while Katherine Biggs and Kari Graham also did well placing 11th and 12th overall. In the alternate division of the range and pasture contest, Blanco easily took 1st place as a team with Kyle Gray taking home top individual honors followed by Amanda Guthrie, Dylan Bates and Abbie Culton in 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
These students, along with several others, will now begin preparations for the upcoming leadership development events to be held in the coming weeks and throughout November. Blanco will once again be hosting the Hill District FFA and Area VII FFA LDE’s on November 10th and 19th. More than 100 schools and over 700 students from across Central Texas will be competing at these events. Advisors for the Blanco FFA are Felice and Jason Marek.
4 photos attached to this article.
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