County has good showing at Colorado State Fair in 2016

RBC | Rio Blanco County was extremely well represented at the 2016 Colorado State Fair. Our county had 30 indoor exhibits that qualified to go to state fair. We also had six members compete in the shooting sports competitions. Several livestock exhibitors competed and six of our livestock judging members qualified for the Colorado All State Livestock Judging Team. Indoor Exhibits The indoor exhibits were represented in several areas including project tri-fold boards, sewing projects, foods and nutrition, entomology, rockets and leathercraft. Shooting sports project boards were entered by Riley Boydstun, placing third; Judd Harvey, placing fifth; Sarah Kracht, qualifier; Keihlin Myers, placing sixth; and Paityn Myers, placing sixth. Judd Harvey and Hailey Scott earned grand champion honors in their divisions while Kevin Wren earned a reserve champion ribbon. The Meeker sewing club proudly sent four beautiful clothing projects representing work from Neveah LeBlanc, placing 10th; Lissbeth Sanchez, qualifier; Kolbi Franklin, placing ninth and Hadley Franklin, placing fourth. The Goodwin family made cookies and other baked goods that were entered and judged at state fair. Annalee placed seventh; Dartagnan placed seventh; and Jordan placed fifth. Oliver Holmes represented the entomology club well with his display of insects, placing ninth. We had our first participant in the State Fair Rocket Launch when Kayla Scott aimed for the stars as a state qualifier. RBC also had their first competitor in a fairly new division, Global Citizenship. Hadley Franklin created a binder summarizing her trip to Zambia which placed fourth. There was a shooter’s block entered by Dalton Dembowski, placing eighth; a wooden .22 rifle standing target created by Anthony Garner, placing third; a PVC .22 target by Landin Lopez, placing ninth; and a very creative model of a shotgun shell by Justin Piloni, qualifier. The Rosendahls made beautiful leather projects that exhibited at state fair. Amy Jo made a journal and wallet, placing eighth; Kasey made saddle bags, placing third; and Rowdy created a journal, placing third also. Jayde Turner entered a stamped, carved and stitched baseball that earned her bragging rights to a Reserve Champion ribbon. Chayton Bumguardner also earned Reserve Champion honors with his meticulous falconry gauntlet. Birdie McCaffrey entered her cake decorating project and was a qualifier. Shooting Sports Contest The State Shooting Sports contests were held in Colorado Springs and Pueblo. Kiyoko Thelen scored well in the Senior Compound Limited Archery Division placing 18th. Riley Boydstun placed eighth in the Compound Traditional Senior Division. Sarah Kracht, 65th; and Kyle Wangnild, 57th; both had a solid day in the Junior Compound Limited Archery Division. Justin Piloni competed placing 41st in the Shotgun/Trap Junior Division while Kristalyn Piloni qualified for the .22 Hunt Scope Junior Division. Livestock Results This year’s market beef show champion was from Larimer County. Julia Frye of Johnstown won the day with a steer named Bill, while the reserve champion was a steer called Maverick, owned by Kory Ridnour of Burlington in Kit Carson County. Our own Kolbi Franklin was the lone Rio Blanco exhibitor with her steer Jerry placing seventh in class. They had a solid showing in an incredibly competitive market steer show. Macy Collins showed her market goat in the lightweight division earning a fifth place in an extremely competitive class. She was in for a long day also showing two medium weight goats placing fourth and fifth, and a heavy weight goat placing fourth. Every one of Macy’s goats placed which is quite an accomplishment at the state fair where the top 10 are placed and another 15 or so get gated and don’t make the cut for placing. Macy turned around and kept going in the Market Lamb show, Black Face, Heavyweight Division showing three lambs in that division with two placing ninth and one placing fifth. Macy continued to show adding the Junior Breeding Sheep Show to her list with a ewe lamb that placed fourth and a showmanship third place for Macy. Junior Breeding Heifers was covered by Kolbi and Kaden Franklin with Kaden taking the Champion Hereford Heifer title and Kolbi receiving Reserve Champion. Marryn Shults showed a shorthorn plus heifer receiving second place in her class and sixth in Intermediate Showmanship. Kaden placed second in Junior Showmanship and Kolbi competed in a very intense Senior Showmanship class. Livestock Judging Results This year Rio Blanco County had the distinction of having more livestock judging team members qualify for the Junior and Senior All State Teams than any other county. In order to qualify for these teams, the livestock judge must place in the top ten percent of contestants in at least three contests throughout the season. At the end of the season, the top ten competitors in each age division state wide make up the all state teams. The Senior Team included three members from Rio Blanco County; Madi Shults for her seventh and final time, Macy Collins for her second time and Ty Dunham for his first time. These livestock judges each received a buckle. The Junior Team also had three Rio Blanco members all qualifying for their first time. Kacie Lapp, Marryn Shults and Tatum Kennedy all received custom leather notebooks for qualifying for the team. We’re excited to see the future for the four all state qualifiers that still have years to judge and also excited to see what Ty and Madi will do judging on the Junior College level.