Texas Tech's meat judging team walked away with first place honors on Sunday (Mar. 3) at the Houston Livestock Show's Intercollegiate Meat Judging Contest. The competition was the ninth consecutive year the Red Raiders have won the Houston competition.

Texas Tech's black team finished first and posted a total score of 4,199 points, followed by the Red Raider's red team in second. Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Kansas State finished third through fifth, respectively. Eleven universities competed for the title.

"I'm very proud of the commitment of these students this spring," said Mark Miller, professor and San Antonio Livestock Show Distinguished Chair in Meat Science. "We are very blessed to have such a large and deeply competitive team this year." The Tech teams won the beef grading, beef judging, lamb judging, overall beef, specifications and placings divisions.

Individually, the Red Raiders dominated as well, securing eight out of ten high individual overall spots. They were:

• Austin Langemeier, a sophomore from Marion was high individual
• Colton Campbell, a sophomore from Artesia, N.M., was second
• Kylan Carson, a sophomore from Olton was third
• Nick Hardcastle, a junior from Wheeler was fourth
• Clayton Krause, a junior from New Braunfels finished sixth
• Greg Howard, a junior from Bremen, Kan., was awarded seventh
• Kassandra Ognoskie, a sophomore from Orting, Wash., was ninth
• Bailey Joe Pennington, a sophomore from Sonora was tenth

Additional team members include:

• Brittany Blum, a sophomore from Howe
• Taelar Childers, a sophomore from Nevada
• Colton Coker, a sophomore from Roby
• Aaron Faulkner, a junior from Lenapah, Okla.
• Trey Garza, a sophomore from Edinburg
• Mallory Jones, a sophomore from Anson
• Kirby Kennedy, a sophomore from Lampasas
• Kristen Knight, a sophomore from Shallowater
• Jacob Mikel, a junior from Vicky, Mo.
• Tyler Neuman, a sophomore from Hondo
• Luke Sellers, a junior from Denver City
• Christy Woerner, a sophomore from Fredericksburg
• William Wunderlich, a sophomore from Fredericksburg

The team is coached by AFS graduate student Loni Woolley along with Miller. The Houston Livestock Show was the last contest of the spring for the 2013 team. Next fall they'll compete at four more contests. The team will also host contests and workouts this spring and summer at Texas Tech for 4-H and FFA students from across the United States.

Written by Moriah Beyers

CONTACT: Mark Miller, Professor, Department of Animal and Food Sciences, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2805, ext. 231 or mfmrraider@aol.com

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