The Bulldog Report - March 20, 2025
By Sam Waller
Moran FFA members Rayni Vinson and Bradee Stautzenberger continued enjoying success with their cattle at major stock shows.
Stautzenberger placed fourth in a class of 43 with her Beefmaster heifer last week at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and showed a steer Monday, March 17, but it didn’t make the cut. Landon Herrell also showed a heifer at Houston.
Stautzenberger did not participate in the calf scramble as planned, but still had a productive winter show season. With her heifer, Fefe, Stautzenberger placed 13th at Fort Worth, fifth at San Angelo and sixth at San Antonio. She also caught calves in scrambles at Fort Worth and San Angelo.
She will show the heifer next week at the Rodeo Austin Stock Show.
On Thursday, March 13, Vinson placed ninth out of 83 entries in the Rodeo Austin Beef Skillathon. In the contest, Vinson had to complete a written test, retail ID of beef and a skills lab. After making the cut for the top 10, she did an interview during which she was questioned her about her belief about imported beef, why her family has solar panels on land in the Moran school district versus running cattle, and she had to describe how to pull a calf and reproduction organs.
That wasl all part of a very long two days, according to Moran superintendent Dr. John Denson. After arriving with her steer the evening before, Vinson stayed up until 1:00 a.m. caring for the animal, then got up at 5:00 a.m. to resume work before moving into the barn at 6:15 a.m., Denson said. She then had to set up her panels, bedding, and feed area before finally moving the steer in. That was followed by getting her steer to eat, watered, weighed and checked in before beginning the Skillathon at noon.
After the contest, Vinson still had to wash her steer, get it classified and care for it before leaving the barn late.
Moran’s veterinary science team will compete Thursday, March 20 (today) at Houston.
Cheerleading Results
One last item for Moran on Thursday, March 13 before going on spring break was cheerleader tryouts. Candidates took part in four tryout clinics as well as mock tryouts before five high school and five junior high students were named for the 2025-26 school year.
Named to the varsity cheer squad were Kielar Carr, Caliann Carroll, Chase Murk, Montana Russell, and Rayni Vinson. The junior high cheer squad will be made up of Kamelia Alexander, Romie Hinshaw, Emmie Hise, Kelsey Rust, and Demi Sebree.
Back To School
Moran returns from spring break Monday, March 24 and gets right back to work. The Scholastic Book Fair will be held Monday-Thursday, March 24-27 at the Moran Library with Family Night 4:00-7:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 25.
The high school UIL academic district meet is set for Tuesday and Thursday, March 25 and 27 at Eula.
Sports Report
The Moran Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs track teams competed in the junior varsity division Saturday, March 15 at the Buckaroo Relays at Breckenridge.
Moran coach John Hughes added meets this week at Blanket. The junior high meet was Tuesday, March 18, giving Moran one more meet on Monday, March 24 at Gordon. The high school meet is Thursday, March 20 (today).
At Breckenridge, the Lady Bulldogs finished with four points.
“It was a good meet,” Hughes said. “The kids ran well considering we were running against 3As, bigger schools than us.”
For the girls, Chelsea Thurman finished fourth in the shot put and Lizzie Creek placed eighth in the 100, making the finals. Creek was also 12th in the 200. Jayla Bussell was 14th in the 200 and 15th in the 100. Kielar Carr was eighth in the long jump, 16th in the 200 and 17th in the 100. Thurman also competed in the discus, and Montana Russell competed in shot put and discus.
For the boys, Jason Burge was ninth in the 1600 and 12th in the 800. Chase Murk was 15th in the long jump, 17th in the 100 and 19th in the 200. Dylan Herod was 20th in the 100 and 21st in the 200. Zeke Henson competed in the discus.
“They all competed,” Hughes said. “Jason Burge didn’t score, but he ran extremely well. Lizzie was the only one to reach the finals and was running with them.”
Moran’s high school teams have meets at Blanket and Zephyr to prepare for the District 13-1A meet, scheduled for Monday, March 31 at Eula.
