The West Holt FFA Chapter recently competed in the 2007 State Range Judging Contest and came away as champions in both the junior and senior divisions. The contest, held in Ainsworth on October 2nd, included 205 individuals on 52 junior division teams and 137 individuals on 33 senior division teams. West Holt nearly swept the top places in both divisions with three of the top five individuals in each junior and senior.

Matt Marcellus led the state winning junior team, finishing as the State Champion, followed closely by Becky Frerichs at 2nd place, Nick Meusch in 5th, and Nick Schrunk in 20th.  The runner-up junior division team was from the Ord FFA. West Holt also had the 7th place team; made up of Grant Garwood, Kent Frickel, Kalie Friedel, and Mackenzie Gibbens. All four team members finished in the top 25%; earning ribbons. Other junior judgers earning individual ribbons were Alex Frickel, Shawn Fetherston, and Russell Hipke.

West Holt’s state winning senior had a dominating performance with Talia Norton placing 3rd, Casey Seger 4th, Beth Olson 5th, and Tad Judge 11th. West Holt finished well ahead of the 2nd place team from Ord, besting them by 62 points. Jessica Welsh and Laura Kohle also earned individual ribbons and were joined by Kelly Kohle and Todd Frickel on the 10th place senior team. Both of the winning teams qualified for the National Range Judging Contest by finishing in the top five teams overall. With junior and senior divisions combined, West Holt’s seniors were 1st and the juniors 3rd. The national contest is held each May in Oklahoma City. The top team will next be heading to Chadron to compete in the Old West Regional Range Judging Contest on October 15th. This is a five-state event, made up of the top teams from Nebraska, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Additional team results in the junior division include: 12th team—Alex Frickel, Russell Hipke, Zeb Elm, and Derek Seger. 20th team—Jessie Poessnecker, Kent Olson, John-Wesley Willson, and Haley Jochem. 39th team—Shawn Fetherston, Trevor Butterfield, Riley Klinger, and Chris Kohle. West Holt FFA Advisor David Gibbens competed in the professional division, finishing 2nd. A complete listing of West Holt rankings and scores is available on the FFA web site at www.westholtffa.org.