Hardeman County 4-H Goes to Nationals

The Hardeman County 4-H Meats Judging Team of Catherine Gibson, Anna Lucas and Trinity Watkins traveled to Manhattan, KS for the 2023 National 4-H Meats Judging Contest on October 17th. As usual, they were met with some stiff competition at this level. The contest was held at Weber Hall on the campus of Kansas State University. The fourth member of the state-winning team, Tatianna Ly, was unable to attend with the group. They were accompanied by former national contestant, Lucie Watkins and 4-H Agent, Gary Rodgers.

The group finished in 11th place overall, only 8 pts away from the 10th position. As a team, they placed as follows in all categories: Beef Judging-16th; Pork Judging-14th ; Retail Cut Judging-11th; Oral Reasons-13th; Total Judging-12th. Individually there were 65 contestants at the event. Catherine Gibson placed 24th overall with a 10 th place finish in the Retail ID with a score of 292/300. Trinity Watkins placed 42nd overall and Anna Lucas placed 48th overall.

They traveled to Manhattan for the contest before returning to Kansas City, KS for the awards breakfast on the following day. The group spent some time at Great Wolf Lodge water park on Tuesday afternoon after the contest before going out for a celebratory meal. Following the awards breakfast at the American Royal Complex in Kansas City, MO, the group made the trip back east to Tennessee. Thank you to the Western Region Extension and Tennessee 4-H Foundation Animal Science Fund for helping to fund the trip. Photo and story courtesy of Gary Rodgers.