Rose Wendel, a freshman in liberal arts from Lamoure, North Dakota, was named the overall showman at the 97th Little International at NDSU on Feb. 11. Noah Helgoe, a sophomore in animal science and crop and weed science from Cavalier, North Dakota, was named reserve champion.
The 97th Little International was organized by the NDSU Saddle and Sirloin Club and held at Shepperd Arena on the NDSU campus.
“The Little International Livestock Show is the largest student-run event on the NDSU campus, involving over 300 students,” said Lydia Lyons, Little I publicity chair and a senior in agribusiness from Lisbon, North Dakota. “The show features showmanship classes of beef, dairy, sheep, swine and goats as well as ham curing and public speaking contests.”
The overall showman is determined using a round-robin contest where each species’ overall showman is required to show all other species.
Winners of each species and other Little I competitions are:
Dairy
• Champion – Madalyn Gieseke, Golden Valley, Minnesota, junior in crop and weed science
• Reserve Champion – Samantha Johnson, Mandan, North Dakota, junior in biological sciences
Beef
• Champion – Jaxon Deckert, Arena, North Dakota, senior in animal science
• Reserve Champion – Hope Willson, Wimbledon, North Dakota, senior in animal science
Sheep
• Champion – Reanna Schmidt, Fargo, freshman
• Reserve Champion – Jolie Sanders, New Salem, North Dakota, freshman in pharmacy
Swine
• Champion – Helgoe
• Reserve Champion – Kasi Holm, Ashley, North Dakota, junior in human development and family science
Goat
• Champion – Wendel
• Reserve Champion – Alexis Vanderberghe, Cleveland, North Dakota, junior in animal science
The show also included a novice division of showmanship for individuals who have never competitively shown their species. Novice winners were:
• Dairy – Madison Feiring, McHenry, North Dakota, freshman in animal science
• Beef – Kamilla Knippling, South Shore, South Dakota, junior in animal science
• Sheep – Madison Scott, Spiritwood, North Dakota, freshman in animal science
• Swine –Erika Anderson, Rogers, North Dakota, sophomore in crop and weed science
• Goat – Jacklyn Pazdernick, New Salem, North Dakota, junior in nursing
Other contests that took place before Feb. 11 included:
Public speaking – Students prepared a speech about this year’s Little I theme, “Leaving a Legacy.”
• First – Isaac Huber, Jud, North Dakota, senior in agriculture systems management
• Second – Stetson Urlacher, Regent, North Dakota, sophomore in agriculture education
• Third - Emma Honeyman, Regent, North Dakota, junior in agriculture economics, daughter of Gary and Tia Honeyman
Ham curing – The top 10 individuals’ hams were auctioned off during the Little I night show.
• First – Brooke Kunz, New Salem, North Dakota, senior in agriculture education
• Second – Tasha Pond, Bowman, North Dakota, senior in veterinary technology
• Third – Rachel Blue, Henry, South Dakota, junior in animal science
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