Youth division
In the youth division, Paige Smith of Ohio 4-H trailed Frisle by four points and earned second place. Iowa 4-H’s Garrett Lovstuen was third, Elizabeth Howman of Ohio 4-H was fourth, and Anders Lovstuen of Iowa 4-H was fifth.
The youth division contains both 4-H and FFA teams. The winning team was from Ohio 4-H. They also topped the national contest in Harrisburg, Penn., in September. Team members were Elizabeth Howman, Paige Smith, Maggie Mathews, and Colby Turin. They are coached by Sherry Smith. Ohio edged Wisconsin 4-H by seven points, but the Badger State topped the reasons portion of the contest with three individuals in the top 10 for reasons. Indiana FFA, Iowa 4-H, and Missouri 4-H followed to round out the top five teams. Fifteen states fielded teams in the youth contest.
Post-secondary division
Eight teams competed in the two-year college division, and New York’s SUNY Cobleskill outpaced Ohio State University-ATI by 20 points, but Ohio State University-ATI won the reasons portion of the contest. Cobleskill’s team members were Erin Curtis, Abby Hatch, Emily Hatch, and Tesika Kilmer. They are coached by Carrie Edsall. Placing third was Kaskaskia, then Morrisville, and Michigan State Ag Tech in fifth.
Following high individual Jade Atheron by four points was Megan Raudebaugh of Ohio State University–ATI. Tesika Kilmer of Cobleskill, Rachel Bosse of Michigan Ag Tech, and Zach Paul from Kaskaskia completed the top five in the two-year college division.
Collegiate division
Veiseth’s top score was matched by Lauren Laymen from Ohio State, and the reasons tiebreaker gave the nod to the Golden Gopher. Briley Lenkaitis from the University of Illinois placed third, followed by Brooke Noel of Virginia Tech in fourth and Emily Syme of the University of Connecticut in fifth. The top talker of the contest was Ashley Hagenow from the University of Minnesota. She bested the competition by an impressive eight points on five sets of reasons.
In the collegiate contest, 15 teams participated. The University of Minnesota rose to the top, with three members in the top 10 individuals overall and winning reasons as a team as well. Team members included Kjersten Veiseth, Matthias Annexstad (7th), Ashley Hagenow (10th), and Leif Annexstad. This was the sixth consecutive win at the Louisville contest for the team coached by Les Hansen, Alicia Thurk Hiebert, Eric Houdek, and Gabriella Sorg Houdek.
The author is the online media manager and is responsible for the website, webinars, and social media. A graduate of Modesto Junior College and Fresno State, she was raised on a California dairy and frequently blogs on youth programs and consumer issues.
