June 2011 will be long remembered by five Manteca Unified students and Ag teacher Jaime Sanchez as the summer they brought home “the Super Bowl of the sheep industry” from Sedalia, Missouri.

“MUSD’s Montadale Show Team had an outstanding consignment and was very successful in the show and sale,” the Lathrop High School Ag teacher proudly announced during Tuesday night’s regular meeting of the Board of Trustees.

Sanchez, who is the district’s Montadale advisor, was joined at the podium by the five students who, with their combined excellent performance in Sedalia, helped nab several first- and second-place awards in the junior division of the 2011 National Montadale Show.

In fact, they made such a good showing that Sanchez could not help sounding like a sportscaster or sportswriter in describing the competition they faced when he quipped, “We slaughtered them – not the sheep.”

Praising the five students who took part in the five-day competition, Sanchez said, “They accomplished something that was unheard of.”

He noted particularly the group’s winning of the Dean Davison Trophy which is awarded “to the exhibit with the cleanest area. This is the first time any youth organization has received that trophy. That’s a big honor (because) it’s a lot of work” keeping the exhibit area clean.

The Dean Davison plaque, which is the Overall Shepherds Award, was also on display at the board meeting Tuesday night. The Manteca Unified group will get to keep it for a year until the next annual show in Sedalia.

Highlights of the 2011 National Montadale Show, as presented by Sanchez are the following:



Junior Division

• Yearling ewes – 2nd place, Ashley Owensby of Sierra High.

• Fall ewes – 1st place and National Champion Ewe in the Jr. Division, Jessica Ray of Sierra High; 2nd place, Adrianna Inguanzo, also of Sierra High.

• Spring ewes – 2nd place, Shari McCallister of East Union; 3rd place, Jenica Reagan of Lathrop High.

• Pair of ewes – 1st place, Manteca Unified (fall ewe lambs); 3rd place, Manteca Unified (spring ewe lambs).

• Junior Showmanship – the Manteca group won third- through seventh-place awards.



Open Division

• Yearling rams – 2nd place and Reserve Sr. Champ, and Reserve National Champion Ram, MUSD.

• Fall rams – 1st place, Manteca Unified; 2nd place, MUSD

• Pair of rams – 1st place, MUSD

• Yearling ewes – 1st place in class and 3rd overall – MUSD

• Fall ewes – 3rd place – MUSD

• Spring ewes – 6th place, MUSD; 11th place, MUSD.

Accompanying the students to Sedalia, aside from Sanchez, were parent Darla McCallister whose daughter Shari was part of the show team, and former Ag teacher and advisor Pat Ariaz. The trip was also Ariaz’s last official act as a district ag and Montadale sheep advisor.

The MUSD Montadale team took along eight of the district’s Montadale sheep to the national show in Missouri. They sold a sheep at the show, and purchased three baby sheep – two males and one female – to add to the district’s collection.

Sanchez said the MUSD team may not go to the national show and sale next year because of the traveling expense involved. Each trip for the whole team costs about $6,000 or more. Some of the expenses provided by the school district came from the prize money and sale of the sheep from shows such as the one held in Sedalia.

In part because of the expenses involved, “We try to go (to the national show) every other year,”  Sanchez said.