LBCC Livestock Judging Team Winning Nationals

Who: Linn-Benton Community College Judging Team
What: Judging Team winning National Championship
Where: Louisville, KY
When: November 18th, 2009
Why: Accomplishment of LBCC on a national level.
How to get involved: Contact Judges Clay Weber's (weberc@linnbenton.edu) and Rick Klampe's (klamper@linnbenton.edu)

The LBCC Livestock Judging Team became National Champions at the North American International Livestock Exposition, November 18th in Louisville, KY. For the second time in 34 years a west coast team has won the competition, which is like "the Super Bowl of livestock events" said coach Rick Klampe. The team of six won by a two-point margin, and a total team score of 4,215 points. Followed closely by Black Hawk East CC from Illinois, and Butler CC from Kansas in second and third place. "We were surprised when we placed higher than schools from the Mid-West because they have such an advantage; they are literally surrounded by livestock." said Jordan Baumgartner, a sophomore and local of Albany, OR.

The team flew in to Louisville on Saturday and the competition began on Wednesday morning. Twelve officials were judging 26 teams from all over the United States, with more than 120 individuals being tested on their knowledge of cattle, sheep and swine. They were happy with their win, but thought that their team weakness in the consistency of their reasons would bring their total down. "We all have an ability to speak really well and score high, but sometimes our nerves get the best of us and we make simple mistakes," said Madi McGuire of Dallas, and nerves were high at such a big competition.

The Roadrunner's won the overall reasons, and placed 2nd in overall Sheep, 3rd in overall Swine, and 4th in overall Beef. To be proficient at what you do, knowing and recognizing different breeds of animals is very important. Each member of the team has grown up around livestock and animals, and Hannah DelCurto of Cove, OR said, "to be successful you need 5 solid competitors, it's not a one person activity at all. Each of us were especially consistent with our individual scores" ranging only 15 points from eachother.

The team hopes that the freshman team members will be prepared to participate in many of the upcoming events next season. They travel all over the US to compete in competitions of the same degree as the one held in Louisville this month.