Kaylee Katterhenry, a junior at Memorial High School in St. Marys, was named the 2016 champion of the Auglaize County Fair Showmanship Sweepstakes Thursday night.
Katterhenry accepted the trophy with tears in her eyes. When asked to describe how it felt to win, she said “Amazing. (I'm at a) loss for words.”
The competition, held in Show Barn 1, had eight participants as well as eight categories, which included horses, swine, sheep, goats, dairy cows, beef steers, rabbits and poultry. A different judge was assigned to each category. Being named the showman of showmen of their species qualified the participants to compete.
The competitors sat out during the judging of the species in which they had been deemed champion, meaning each competed in seven categories. Katterhenry was named champion in beef steer showmanship. She found out yesterday she would be competing in the sweepstakes.
“Throughout the day, I went around and practiced with all of the different animals,” she said.
The category of animal Katterhenry found most difficult to show was poultry. This was because of the questions asked by the judge.
See Friday's paper for the full story.