By Steve Rickman
Extension Agent
The Western Region 4-H Livestock Judging contest was held on Thursday, November 3 in Decaturville. This year 242 students from grades 4-12 participated, making up 62 teams. Chester County once again had one of the larger groups in attendance. We had 20 students divided up into six teams.
In the junior division, Riley Taylor from Chester County Middle School won high individual overall. This was the first time Chester County had taken top honors since 2017. Other team members in the junior division were Tony Lee and Kalaeb Weaver.
Chester County Junior High was well represented in the junior high division with three teams. The top two teams finished second and fourth, just barely missing first place by a few points. Sophia Vaughn finished seventh high individual. The team of Mackenzie Stoneman, Sophia Vaughn, Will Davis and Chris Davis finished in second place. The fourth place team members included Kodie Weaver, Brycen Faulkner, Evan Jones and Luke Moody. Other team members included Bristol Cherry, Anna Tucker and Callaway Scott.
Chester County High School had two teams compete in the senior division. The team of Sydney Cherry, Paul Jones, and Malachi Holloman had the highest finish placing fifth and they will be the alternate team with an opportunity to go to the State contest in June 2023. The second high school team was Hannah Rowland, Anna Crouse and Colt Mims. Highest senior high individual was Sydney Cherry who finished fifth. This is the highest individual ranking in the senior high division in years.
We are very proud of all of these kids, they did an outstanding job representing Chester County 4-H. Big thanks go out to Clint Isbell from Chester County High School FFA for coaching our senior high students this year. Thank you to all the parents for helping with travel and supporting your kids. We had a lot of fun and hopefully learned a lot about livestock judging. Follow our 4-H program on Facebook at UT Extension-Chester County for news and events. You can also contact us at 989-2103 about all the opportunities that 4-H has to offer.
