Published: November 26, 2008 08:53 am      

Cleburne teams, Grandview teen headed to state

Cleburne’s public relations team had no reason to be nervous. It was prepared for perfection, and evidently achieved it.

“We weren’t so much nervous as we were confident,” junior member Shelby Galvin said. “We had practiced so much and had all our questions down and had our script down and knew what we were going in to do.

“We didn’t make any mistakes that I can remember.”

The predictable result: First place in Area VIII competition last Saturday at Hillsboro. Galvin and teammates Laura Wilson, Katie Babbitt, Sarah Brandon and Jordyn Taylor earned a spot in the state meet at Huntsville from Dec. 5-6.

The Cleburne radio team of Katlyn Martin, Kodie Ray, David Price, John Longoria, Joseph Snyder and Amber Blair also placed first to qualify for state.

The county’s other state qualifier, Grandview’s Amanda Rollins, was first in area in job interview.

Cleburne was third in senior creed and junior skills, fourth in junior creed, fifth in senior skills and ag issues, and 10th in junior chapter conducting.

Grandview was fifth in junior chapter conducting, senior chapter conducting and junior skills, and sixth in junior quiz contest.

Burleson was sixth in senior chapter conducting, eighth in senior creed and ninth in junior creed.

Joshua was seventh in public relations, and Alvarado ninth in ag issues.

Like Cleburne’s public relations team, the radio team took the stage as the next to last group.

“That was a little nerve-wracking,” Martin said, “because we had to wait so long to see how well we were going to do. We could hear the other teams perform while we were waiting upstairs. We tried to listen as much as we could.”

Nothing they heard from the other groups matched what they did themselves.

“They were just about flawless,” said Ray, an alternate. “I think it was the best they’ve ever done.”

Price, sounding much like the legendary Porter Randall of Texas State Network, bragged on his teammates.

“The best part of the routine was being able to see my teammates perform to their best and being able to perform with them,” he said. “I really enjoy being around them.”

The radio team doesn’t intend to rest on its laurels.

“We need to keep practicing so we don’t make the mistakes that could bring us down,” Longoria said.

“I think the performance was at its best [at area],” Snyder said. “If we don’t win state with that, then it just wasn’t in the cards.”

The public relations team’s performance is part show, part memorization, all personality and sincerity.

“When judges have sat there all day, listening to the same answers to the same questions over and over, you really have to be different,” Galvin said. “You have to do something a little different and have more confidence than the other teams.”

The judges surely appreciated that the Cleburne team had a good time.

“We were happy and enthusiastic,” Brandon said.

“They knew their parts, and they were very accurate,” Wilson, an alternate, said. “They didn’t stumble on the questions. You could tell they were confident.”

“They didn’t mess up at all,” Taylor, an alternate said. “That’s why they’re going to state.”

And when it was over, they knew it was an occasion to celebrate.

“We gave each other a big hug,” Babbitt said. “We knew we were at the top and that if we didn’t win, it was only because we’d gotten beat by somebody really good. It was definitely the best we had ever done.”