For the second time this decade, the University of Minnesota has earned back-to-back titles in the Intercollegiate Dairy Judging Contest. The first pair of victories came in 2015 and 2016, and with their victory in this year’s contest that follows last year’s top finish, they become the first school to record multiple repeat victories in such a short time frame.
The result is especially impressive considering the team competed with just three individuals. Megan Meyer, Sarah Hagenow, and Megan Ratka were consistent with each other throughout the contest — and clearly, it was good consistency. In reasons, Meyer was third, Hagenow was fourth, and Ratka was fifth as the three were separated by just one point. This gave the Gophers the team reasons title.
Overall, Meyer was fourth, Hagenow was fifth, and Ratka was sixth. Ratka earned a first-place breed finish in Milking Shorthorns. The team was first in both Guernseys and Milking Shorthorns. Minnesota was coached by Les Hansen, Isaac Haagen, Eric Houdek, and Gabriella Houdek.
Twenty-two points behind them was the University of Wisconsin-Madison, coached by Brian Kelroy and Trent Olson, which racked up first-place team awards in Brown Swiss, Holsteins, and Jerseys. The Badgers were led by Kylie Konyn, who became the high individual on the night after first-place finishes in Brown Swiss and Guernseys plus reasons on the tiebreaker of overall score. For good measure, her teammates Emma Dorshorst was first in Holsteins and Chloe LaCrosse received first in Red and Whites. The team was completed by Natalie Roe.
Konyn also earned the high individual award on a tiebreaker. Naomi Scott from Iowa State was the second-place individual, paced by her first-place performance in the placings only portion of the contest with a total of 583 points out of a possible 600. She led her team to third place overall.
Fourth overall went to Purdue University. They were bolstered by Evan Coblentz, who was second in reasons after the tiebreaker and third overall. Rounding out the top five teams was the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
In reasons, the University of Wisconsin-Madison again followed Minnesota in second. Third went to Penn State, fourth was Purdue, and fifth was Iowa State.
Katelyn Allen joined the Hoard’s Dairyman team as the Publications Editor in August 2019 and is now an associate editor. Katelyn is a 2019 graduate of Virginia Tech, where she majored in dairy science and minored in communication. Katelyn grew up on her family’s registered Holstein dairy, Glen-Toctin Farm, in Jefferson, Md.
