tahs ffa banquet
“Honestly, I didn’t think we’d get it,” said Lawton Verlinde. “Me and my brother didn’t think we did good enough to win it.”
Add Lanoue to the list of the group who said the first-place finish was not expected.
“It was pretty surreal,” he said. “I thought I had a pretty good cineastes, but I don’t think Nolan or Lawton were very happy even though they still did pretty good. I knew that there were a lot of really good teams competing.”
TAHS ended up tying with defending champion Randolph High School for first place but won the first tie-breaker.
Knott will be the last one to take credit for the team’s success, but it goes without saying that his impact has been felt amongst team members.
“You expect him just to be a ‘pig guy,’ but he knows everything,” Verlinde said. “He knows exactly what he’s doing. It surprises me how much he knows about different species.”
Lanoue agreed, saying having a mentor like Knott makes everything they do much easier.
“Any question we had, he was able to answer,” Lanoue said. “He’s judged livestock in the past, he’s coached for a lot of years. He’s done a really good job with how he structures our practices, how he gives us assignments. I think he did a really good job of preparing us for the contest.”
When it comes to selfmotivation, that can be traced to Lanoue. The sophomore entered this year disappointed with his 28th-place finish a year ago, all but dashing the high hopes he head going into that year.
“I’m not really sure why I did it, but I printed off a sheet of my rank and the judging card and put it in my room so I could see it,” said Lanoue, who finished third at state individually this year. I was kind of motivated to do a lot better. I think our entire team was a lot more motivated — we really locked in this year.”
The team will compete at Nationals in October.
FISH & WILDLIFE (6th at regions, 2nd at state) — McKenzie Erickson, Brayden Marron, Ryker Freeburg, Alexis Brey, Kaylin Brey, Hailey Hubner, Makayla Erickson.
AG MECHANICS (3rd at regions, 11th at state) — From left: Trenton Johnson, Elijah Lightfoot, Mavrick Snyder, coach Mark LaVoy. Not pictured: Skylar Platt.
SOILS (4th at regions, 7th at state) — From left: Jaxter Pfarr, Luke Millman, Christian Fransen, Owen Beier, Levi Duscher.
FLORICULTURE (11th at regions) — From left: Mckenzie Erickson, Payton Daniels, Makayla Errickson, Oliver Torkelson.
GREENHAND DEGREES — Front, from left: Jaxter Pfarr, Serena Muscatello, Jayda Snyder, Levi Duscher, Oakley Bornitz, Elizabeth Buyck. Back, from left: Kaylin Brey, Clara Buyck, Danica Paulsen, Nolan Carlson, Christian Fransen, Noah Johnson, Luke Millman Photos / Per Peterson
AGRONOMY (6th at regions) — From left: Lucas Hubner, Lane Peterson, Nolan Gervais, Lane Hoffman, Chase Swenhaugen.
DAIRY CATTLE EVAL. (6th at regions, 39th at state) — Evelyn Buyck, Clara Buyck, Elizabeth Buyck, Kamryn Burns.
BEST INFORMED GREENHAND (8th at regions, 25th at state) — Front, from left: Skylar Johnson, Aynsley Oeltjenbruns, Kylie Bornitz, Chelsea Torkelson, Oliver Torkelson. Back, from left: Mckenzie Erickson, Adalynn Brey, Jayda Snyder, Nolan Gervais, Noah Johnson, Oakley Bornitz. Not pictured: Isabelle Wendroff, Joelyn Walters, Ethan Schreier, Andrew Hippe, Gage Caron.
COMPANION ANIMAL (second at regional, 12th at state) — From left: Serena Musctello, Sierra Staufacker, Danica Paulsen, Jared Swenhaugen, Troy Beier.
HONORARY CHAPTER DEGREES WERE GIVEN Sunday to Ben and Suzanne Lightfoot and Mark LaVoy (right).
