Texas Tech's meat judging team took first and third place honors on Sunday (March 6) at the Houston Livestock Show's Intercollegiate Meat Judging Contest. The win makes the seventh consecutive year the Red Raiders have won the Houston competition, report officials with Tech's Department of Animal and Food Sciences.

Tech's black team finished first with a score of 4,089; a slim two points ahead of Oklahoma State University, their nearest competitor. Tech's red team tallied 4,080 points and finished third. The teams won the beef grading, beef judging, lamb judging, overall beef and specification divisions.

"I'm very proud of the commitment of these students this spring," said Mark Miller, team coach and Tech's San Antonio Livestock Show Distinguished Chair in Meat Science. "We're blessed to have such a deep team this year with seven of the top 11 scores in the contest being Tech students."

Among the individual honors were:
"Second "" Natalee Smith, a junior from Albemarle, NC
"Fourth "" Cody Sultenfuss, a sophomore from Little-River Academy
"Sixth "" Zach Smith, a sophomore from Sweetwater
"Seventh "" Drew Cashman, a sophomore from New Windsor, MD
"Eighth "" Craig Russell, a junior from Visalia, Calif.
"Tenth "" Travis Begley, a sophomore from Plainview
"Eleventh "" Mandy-Jo Laurent, a sophomore from Nacogdoches

Other team members include:
"Blaine Corliss, a junior from Estancia, NM
"Cody Helms, a junior from Cleburne
"Faith Jurek, a sophomore from Goldthwaite
"Jerra McMath, a junior from Estancia, NM
"Andrea Nordman, a junior from Florence
"Tyler Travis, a sophomore from Pleasant Valley
"Kaitlyn True, a sophomore from Plainview
"Amanda White, junior from Garden City, Kan.
"Dakota Williams, a sophomore from Glenrose

The team is coached by Miller and meat science graduate student Shanna Ward. The Houston event was the last contest of the spring for the 2011 team. The teams will compete at four more contests during the fall semester, as well as, an international competition in Australia this summer.

Written by Moriah Beyers

CONTACT: Mark Miller, professor and San Antonio Livestock Show Distinguished Chair in Meat Science, Department of Animal and Food Sciences, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2805, ext. 231 or mfmrraider@aol.com

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