The Blanco High School UIL Academic Team clinched the District 8-AA Championship on Saturday, March 29 in Comfort. Leading the way was senior Kirstin Weber with 60 points. Blanco scored a total of 445 sweepstakes points to outdistance second-place Mason by over 100 points.

The sixteen students from Blanco who placed first, second, or third will compete at the UIL Region I-AA Academic Meet at Abilene Christian University on April 11-12. Teams that placed first in the district meet will also represent BHS in Abilene. Fourth place students will serve as alternates at the meet.

“We had a very successful day with students in all four grades significantly contributing to the win,” said UIL academic coordinator Russell Kirkscey. “Four seniors scored nearly one-fourth of our total points. However, six freshmen also had top-six finishes, including two regional qualifiers and one regional alternate. I think this continuity is important to the program.”

Academic coaches are Howard Seltzer, Bill Spurgin, Russell Kirkscey, Judy Hinnant, Holly Vogt, Marie Graham, Gina Blankenburg, and Tony Vela.

See UIL on page B9

A list of winners follows.

Prose Interpretation

1st Kristen Mancha

5th Daniel Culpepper

Informative Speaking

1st Wes Stults

3rd Angelica Avila

Mathematics

5th Lauren Savage

Poetry Interpretation

1st Kirstin Weber

5th Travis McClinton

6th Letitia Smith

Social Studies

First Place Team

1st Jacob Troublefield

2nd John James Pepper

3rd Juan Hernandez

Lauren Savage

Science

Second Place Team

1st Rebecca Kamas

(Also Top Scorer in Chemistry and Physics)

6th Taylor McCormick

Lauren Savage

Computer Applications

3rd Shelby Foegelle

4th Kyle Brnicky

Spelling and Vocabulary

2nd Chandler Ashley

5th Allen Strandtman

Number Sense

1st Brian Roche

Current Issues and Events

First Place Team

2nd Kevin Reder

4th Siomha Moore

6th Juan Hernandez

Angelica Avila

Ready Writing

3rd Kirstin Weber

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

1st Rebecca Kamas

2nd Taylor Holden

Calculator Applications

1st Lauren Savage

2nd Kelley Savage

Feature Writing

4th Garrett Shipman

News Writing

5th Siomha Moore

Headline Writing

1st Kirstin Weber

4th Briar Koehl

Editorial Writing

5th Kirstin Weber

Persuasive Speaking

1st Taylor Holden

3rd Angelica Avila

5th Grant Weaver

Cross-Examination Debate

1st Kirstin Weber and Siomha Moore

2nd Hillary Tidwell and Briar Koehl

4th Allen Strandtman and Grant Weaver

One-Act Play

All-Star Cast—Daniel Culpepper

Honorable Mention All-Star Cast

Kirstin Weber

Jaeger Shoemaker

Regional Qualifiers and Grade Levels

Siomha Moore 12

Rebecca Kamas 12

Kirstin Weber 12

Taylor Holden 11

Angelica Avila 11

Lauren Savage 11

Jacob Troublefield 11

John James Pepper 11

Kevin Reder 11

Juan Hernandez 11

Kristen Mancha 10

Shelby Foegelle 10

Brian Roche 10

Kelley Savage 10

Chandler Ashley 9

Wes Stults 9

Regional Alternates

Briar Koehl 9

Garrett Shipman 11

Kyle Brnicky 10

School Points Totals

Blanco 445

Mason 319

Sonora 250

Comfort 244

Brady 182

Junction 46