Nevada FFA team brings home another championship, prepares for Scotand

Friday, January 16, 2015
The FFA team from Nevada poses with their winnings from the Western National Roundup competition, held Jan. 8-12, in Denver, Colo. The team walked away the champion team of the event. Coach Tonya St. John, Payton Dahmer, Kaylee Farmer, Cara Comstock and Skyler Scotten. Submitted photo

Nevada Daily Mail

Four Nevada high school students continued their recent streak of Future Farmers of America successes with a win at the national level at Colorado State University in Denver, Colo., at the 95th Annual Western National Roundup, Jan. 8-11.

Seniors Cara Comstock and Payton Dahmer and juniors Kaylee Farmer and Skyler Scotten, who have competed together and individually in FFA and 4-H competitions around the state and the nation for about eight years, once again came home the champions after placing first against other state qualifying teams.

The team competed individually in the livestock judging competition, with the top three members' scores of each event becoming the team score. The members judged 10 teams of livestock, including goats, swine, cattle and sheep. They then had to give oral reasons for their judging of six of those teams.

As a team, the Nevada students were the reserve champion team in the goat and swine judging divisions and the champion team in the cattle, sheep and oral reasons divisions. That success resulted in their being named the overall champion.

"It wasn't as big number-wise," Dahmer described the contest, although 32 states and Canada were represented by teams. "But as far as the quality of the teams or the competitiveness of the teams, it was just as tough as any of the other ones."

Scotten added it was likely one of the toughest contests they had ever competed in.

Because of the age cut-off for the contest, Dahmer said many other teams had members who were college freshmen who had the advantage of spending the year under a collegiate coach. Dahmer said they were one of the few teams completely comprised of high school students and who had come from the same area, since states often hand pick members from different counties for the team representing the state in contests.

Charles Comstock, team member Cara's father and also president of the FFA booster club, said the team has been together for so long they can be compared to a good basketball team, and one that is not driven by a single exceptional player. Comstock said each team member has been the high score as well as the dropped score at different competitions.

This year, each of the four members, including those with the lowest scores, placed in the top 10 in the individual divisions.

"For a national contest, that was a pretty big accomplishment," Dahmer said. "There weren't any other teams that were able to do that."

Since starting a team together when they were about 9 years old, Dahmer said the members competed first locally and then grew and developed until they participated in state and national contests.

This year, the team won nine competitions in a row before qualifying for the state competitions in both FFA and 4-H, where they won second in FFA and first in 4-H. In a national FFA contest in Louisville, Ky., they placed 11th in the nation.

The team has attended three national contests this year and won two of them, including the one in Denver, which qualified them for an international contest in Scotland, June 22-31.

As that contest approaches, Dahmer said the team would likely hold multiple fundraisers such as selling t-shirts and possibly holding a dinner and a raffle.

"It's kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity, so we're really excited about it," Dahmer said of the international contest.

In preparation for the contest, the team said they would continue competing in local contests as well as visiting farms and other areas for further research and practice.

"We do a lot of traveling so we can get out to other places and see different livestock," Dahmer said.

Each of the team members expressed an interest in judging on a collegiate team after graduating from high school. They also expressed their gratitude to current and previous 4-H and FFA coaches including Tonya St. John, Bryan Gast and Marty Miller

"None of this would have been possibly if not for the wonderful, out-pouring support from our community," Cara Comstock said in an article the team released. "We are so blessed to have the support that we do, and are beyond excited to take the next step of our judging journey together as we prepare for the international contest in Scotland."

While winning the contest, the team also had success on an individual basis:

Cara Comstock placed third in goats, seventh in swine, eighth in sheep, 10th in reasons and had the eighth highest individual score overall.

Payton Dahmer placed fifth in cattle, fourth in reasons, had the seventh highest individual score overall and had the highest score in the sheep judging division.

Kaylee Farmer placed second in swine, second in sheep, second in cattle, third in reasons and had the highest score in the goats division and individual score overall.

Skyler Scotten placed sixth in cattle, 10th in sheep, sixth overall and had the highest individual score in the reasons portion of the contest.

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