By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
A two-time showmanship winner in Dairy and Dairy-Beef Feeders, Taylor Lutz brought home an even bigger prize Friday morning. Lutz was named the 2014 Crawford County Showman of Showmen after besting 10 other competitors.
“I was worried about a few of them (her competitors) for sure,” Lutz said. “I am very honored and very surprised all at the same time.”
Top showmanship winners from the Horse, Dog, Dairy, Goat, Lamb, Dairy-Beef, Steer, Swine, Alpaca, Rabbit, and Poultry departments competed in the event. Every competitor competed in each event except for their own department. Because Lutz qualified in both the Dairy show and the Dairy-Beef Feeder show, she conceded her spot in the Showman of Showmen event for Dairy-Beef. She competed under the Dairy department while Sara Hoffman stepped up into the Dairy-Beef spot.
Qualifying competitors are required to learn how to show each animal before the Showman of Showmen event on Friday.
“The hardest thing is probably just learning all the animals in time and then remembering all of it when it comes to the show,” Lutz said, “because you’re nervous and at the same time you have to make sure you remember all of that that they just taught you.”
Lutz admitted that the sheep portion of the event proved the most difficult for her but she also found that showing alpacas was pretty hard, too. She placed fourth and first, respectively, in those departments.
Lutz seemed at the top of her showmanship game Friday after taking home wins in the goat, dairy-beef, alpaca, rabbit, and poultry categories. She also placed second with steers, third in the swine and dog category, and sixth in the horse event.
Below are the results from the Showman of Showmen contest:
1st Taylor Lutz (Dairy)
2nd Jessica Millenbaugh (Steer)
3rd Sara Hoffman (Dairy-Beef)
4th Colton Guinther (Poultry)
5th Sidney Long (Horse)
6th Taylor Delarber (Lamb)
7th Adam Widman (Swine)
8th Naomi Bell (Alpaca)
9th Matthew Hall (Goat)
10th Donetta Lester (Rabbit)
11th Jessica Hensley (Dog)