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For the 15th consecutive year, the Blanco FFA will be competing at the State FFA Land, Range & Plant ID Contests. The Blanco FFA recently completed the fall schedule of career development events, winning 12 of 15 competitions.

The Land Judging team will be traveling to Stephenville in April to compete at the state contest following a 3rd place finish this past week at the Area VII FFA contests in San Marcos. Individually, Tanner Reddout and Brooks Wyatt ranked 5th and 6th respectively, while David Hostetler and Lauren Graham also finished in the top 20. In the alternate division, Brian Roche took home top honors with a perfect score, while Lacee Hunter placed 3rd and Jared York 6th. Also finishing in the top 20 was Lauren Winn. Overall, the land team won 1st place at three competitions: The Hill District FFA Contest, The Hill District Invitational, and the Comal-Guadalupe Invitational, while placing 3rd overall at the Blanco Invitational and Area VII FFA contest.

Blanco’s Plant ID team will also be headed to the Range Plant ID State Contest at Hamilton in April, following a 1st place showing at Area. Individually, TJ Raby ranked as the top individual, while Chelsea Fuller and Alex Gustafson tied for 4th, followed by Matt Pepper in 6th. The Alternate Division would also see Blanco fare well, as Tyler Noah placed 2nd, Garrett Gombert and Maggie Dennis tied at 4th, and Katelyn Bradfute ranked 7th. For the semester, the Plant ID team finished in first place at the Blanco Invitational, the Comal-Guadalupe Invitational, the Hill District FFA contests, and the Area VII FFA contests, while also placing 2nd at the Hill District Invitational.

Finally, the Blanco FFA Range Team completed a perfect fall semester of contests, winning all five events it participated in, including the Area VII contests at Texas State University. Senior Keaton Dodd placed the highest individually, finishing 2nd overall, while Taylor McCormick and Kaleigh Anderson tied for 3rd, with Corey Dowlearn ranking 8th. The Alternate Division would see Blanco take the top three spots, with Grady Childress, Kylie Leachman, and Mindy Dechert placing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively, while Payton Duvall finished 5th overall.

The Range and Land Teams will now look forward to advancing to the state contests held in Stephenville at Tarleton State University in April, while the Plant ID team will travel to Hamilton to compete in the Range Plant ID competition.

Advisors for the Blanco FFA are Felice and Jason Marek.