There have been more successful schools than Cleburne High in area and statewide FFA competitition.

Last weekend, for instance, Midlothian won the Area 8 sweepstakes, while Cleburne was second.

But it’s doubtful any other school has been as consistently superlative in the radio event.

With an area round first place over second place Midlothian, Cleburne qualified for the 11th time in the last 12 years for state next weekend at Huntsville.

Veteran disc jockeys David Price and John Longoria are teamed with Callie McNulty. Alternates are Deanna Moser and Becca Jones.

Also qualifying for state for Cleburne was the second-place junior skills team of Morgan Prine, Tanner Galvin, Tucker Nolan , Vicente Godinez, Kason George and Kaleb Stewart and the second-place ag issues team of Longoria, Price, Tori Aker, Mark McDonald, Veronica Johnson, Kristi Babbitt and Katie Roberts.

The top two places advance.

The Cleburne team of Alex Cooper, Jordyn Taylor, Shelby Galvin and Laura Wilson was third in public relations. Cleburne was also fourth in junior creed speaking, sixth in senior skills and sixth in job interview.

Alvarado was sixth in junior skills, seventh in senior skills and eighth in junior chapter conducting.

Grandview was fourth in senior chapter conducting and eighth in ag issues.

Burleson was sixth in senior chapter conducting.

The Cleburne teams feature a mixture of youth and experience.

“Our junior skills team is all freshmen,” said Cleburne FFA sponsor Barney McClure. “We had two juniors on our radio team last year, and we have three seniors this year. Several kids on ag issues are seniors.”

Nothing is etched in concrete when teams get to Huntsville. Some of the first and second places can be reversed. Some team could come out of nowhere to grab a title.

“You have a different set of judges,” McClure said. “A few bobbles here and there and a mispronounced word, and you can fall a spot or two.”

Region 8 has historically done well at the highest plateau.

“The competition is really fierce in our area,” McClure said. “There are 95 schools in Area 8, and they range geographically from Burleson to Salado and from Glen Rose to Palestine. There are some really good schools in there. To be in the top two in an event in this area is a pretty big deal. Midlothian was first in sweepstakes. They had a few more teams than we had.”

Qualifying for state gets more difficult every year, McClure said.

“New teachers come into schools in our area, and they set goals. They use certain other schools as measuring sticks. Like they’ll set a goal of beating Cleburne in radio because they know we’re good at that. You have a lot of young ag teachers who went through area ag programs that have been successful. Cara Scogin [Alvarado ag teacher] is one of our former students. Alvarado qualified three teams for area this year. They were very competitive. The young teachers are very energetic, and the kids respond well to them.

“You have to stay a step ahead of those people, and that’s what we try to do.”

Radio is doubtless Cleburne’s strength. It requires three good voices, a good script and total calm. The judges can’t see you if you’re slouching behind a microphone, but they can hear you if you stumble over a word. Cleburne’s 2009 script addresses the vital issue of water conservation.

“Radio has probably been our most consistent event,” McClure said. “The key is having good voices and coaching them to the point they read without making any mistakes. You want to have a good script that flows well. Some people just have an ear for it. You want to have voices that kind of blend.”

Cleburne FFA students compete to join the radio team.

“It’s an event we typically have a lot of kids try out for,” McClure said. “All kids want to be successful. They want to be on a team that has a good chance of winning if they do their share of the work. We’ve also had success with the junior skills team and ag issues. It’s not like this is the first time to state for either of those.