Congratulations to Black Hawk College East Campus students and coaches for winning the 2024 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture (NACTA) Judging Conference Sweepstakes Award!
This marks the 15th time Black Hawk College has garnered the top prize at the national judging conference. BHC students brought home the Sweepstakes Award in 1981-85, 1989, 2009, 2014, 2016-19 and 2022-23. The contest was not held in 2020 and 2021.
The judging conference is open to all two-year and four-year schools that have institutional NACTA membership. The BHC team won by having the highest combined team score for two-year schools.
Thanks and congratulations to the Black Hawk College coaches:
- Dr. Blake Bloomberg – Dairy Cattle Judging, Livestock Judging and Livestock Management
- Aaron Callahan – Equine Management and Parliamentary Procedure
- Drew Cotton – Ag Business and Ag Education
- Andrew Larson – Natural Resources Management and Soils
- Cole Wright – Ag Mechanics, Crops, Knowledge Bowl and Precision Ag
Here are the Black Hawk College team and top individual results.
Ag Business
Team – 3rd
Team members – Mya Kirgan, Lauryn Kuehl, Grace Strief and Tea Thomas
Top individual placings –
- 9th – Lauryn Kuehl
Ag Education
Team – 2nd
Team members – Samantha Calvetti, Klara Leach, Hannah Maher and Kayla Vandenberg
Top individual placings –
- 5th – Klara Leach
- 6th – Hannah Maher
Ag Mechanics
Team – 6th
Team members – David Chavez, Evan DeKeyrel, Wyatt Harby and Jesse Wright
Crops
Team – 6th
Team members – Evan Dekeyrel, Wyatt Harby, Hannah Maher and Kayla Vandenberg
Individual – Paige Wexell
Dairy Cattle Judging
Team – 2nd
Team members – Aaron Amick, Jonwyn Ayres, Matthew Blackburn and Rob Rogers
Top individual placings –
- 1st – Jonwyn Ayres
- 4th – Aaron Amick
Equine Management
Team – 1st
Team members – Mya Kirgan, Lauryn Kuehl, Grace Strief and Tea Thomas
Top individual placings –
- 1st – Tea Thomas
- 3rd – Lauryn Kuehl
- 4th – Grace Strief
- 5th – Mya Kirgan
Knowledge Bowl
Team – 2nd
Team members – Jonwyn Ayres, Shelton Biddle, Carter Hoge, Hannah Maher and Karson Osborn
Livestock Judging
Teams – 1st and 2nd
Team members (1st) – Aaron Amick, Matthew Blackburn, Carter Hoge, Rob Rogers and Hayden Schroeder
Team members (2nd) – Blaze Cozart, Matthew Ferrell, Laney Harryman, Klara Leach, Karson Osborn and Kenzie Stadtmiller
Top individual placings –
- 1st – Rob Rogers
- 2nd – Karson Osborn
- 3rd – Hayden Schroeder
- 4th – Aaron Amick
- 5th – Matthew Ferrell
- 8th – Blaze Cozart
- 9th – Laney Harryman
Livestock Management
Team – 3rd
Team members – Blaze Cozart, Carter Hoge, Karson Osborn and Kenzie Stadtmiller
Top individual placings –
- 9th – Karson Osborn
Natural Resources Management
Team – 2nd
Team members – Shelton Biddle, Madison Casteel, Carson Holmes and Hannah Maher
Parliamentary Procedure
Team – 2nd (tied for 1st but lost in tiebreaker)
Team members – Jonwyn Ayres, Samantha Calvetti, Lauren Kuehl, Grace Strief and Tea Thomas
Precision Ag
Team – 5th
Team members – David Chavez, Evan DeKeyrel, Wyatt Harby and Jesse Wright
Soils
Team – 2nd
Team members – Shelton Biddle, Madison Casteel, Carson Holmes and Emma Johnson
Competed individually – David Chavez, Cassidy Miller, Brik Rediger and Jesse Wright
Top individual placings –
- 4th – Carson Holmes
- 5th – Shelton Biddle
- 8th – Jesse Wright
- 9th – David Chavez
- 10th – Emma Johnson
The 2024 NACTA Judging Conference was April 17-20 at College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, Idaho.