In 1981, Tracy High School’s FFA chapter reached new heights with a first-place state poultry judging team. Eighteen years later, their successors almost did the same thing. This year, history did repeat itself — more proof that when it comes to FFA at TAHS
… success is contagious
OMPETITION BREEDS COMPETITION. And there is nothing more motivating than going after something that has been just out of your reach for 26 years. just ask local farmer and FFA Poultry Team coach John Lanoue.
TAHS hadn’t had a poultry team in many years when Paul Skoglund took over as FFA advisor, Lanoue said. The last time Tracy FFA won the state poultry contest was 1981. As a freshman at Tracy Area High School in 1996, Lanoue, along with Trevor Humphrey, Michael Scott, Nate Julien and Teresa Zeug started the Poulty Team back up.
“We dug into some stuff, asked a lot of questions, we competed against teams including Fulda,” Lanoue said. “Mike Pagel was an ag teacher there and he would go through stuff and teach us after the competition. We just picked up on stuff like that and we took it into the next year.”
As a junior, they took 4th at state. During his senior year, Lanoue and Humphrey joked about how they were all in and wanted to win the state poultry contest. John’s sister, Katie Lanoue, had joined the team as a freshman. Individually, they placed 4th, 6th and 8th at state. However, they fell just short of their overall goal, placing 2nd to Sleepy Eye by just one point.
The irony didn’t stop, as Lanoue received his teaching degree and began teaching in Sleepy Eye.
“For three years, I had to look at that plaque on the wall,” Lanoue said referring back to those days at Sleepy Eye. “And they are still a perennial force in the poultry competition. Even our team now, they want to beat Sleepy Eye.”
Lanoue pointed out the outstanding poultry programs in Westbrook-Walnut Grove, Sleepy Eye and RTR as motivation for the team.
“There are schools that if you can get close to or beat, it drives you,” Lanoue said.
This year, the team finished 3rd at regions behind Sleepy Eye and RTR.
The motivation for the team burned deep heading into this year’s state competition in April. Unlike sports, there are no classes for FFA competition so all schools compete against each other despite their size. For smaller schools like TAHS, the FFA competitors are pulled in many directions trying to compete in sports and other activities. Finding time to put in the practice they needed and balance everything else that goes with being a busy high school student was another challenge they faced as they strived for their goal.
“We try to be flexible and understand,” Lanoue said. “It puts a lot of pressure on a kid to balance — what am I going to do today? What if the coach doesn’t see me in the weight room, batting cage, etc. This kind of validates all the hard work and practice they put in. This isn’t a spectator sport so it’s not in the public eye. I think it’s fun that these kids can be balanced in so many different aspects.”
To help with that balance and prepare for state, the team ran a Saturday practice in April in full baseball uniforms. Practice was run just like a full competition, however, they had to wait until the baseball game against Adrian finished to hold the practice.
This year’s team consisted of juniors Connor Lanoue and Eli Lightfoot who have both been on the team since the seventh grade, sophomore Taylor Squires who has been on the team since the eighth grade and newcomers eighth-grader Nolan Carlson and freshman Elsie Knott.
Just like John had experience, most of this year’s team had felt the emotions of coming so close. The team placed 2nd at state two years ago and 4th at state last year. That drop last year motivated them for this year.
“We knew it wouldn’t be easy once we got that setback, but we knew we had to work harder,” Squires said. “We knew we couldn’t be messing around in practice.”
“We started thinking outside the box,” Lightfoot said. “What part of the contest is the most important, what do we need to get better at? Instead of practicing everything, what can we do to make ourselves better?”
They also added two new team members and those members knew the expectations right away.
“Once Ashton (Squires) left, we knew we needed people,” Carson Lanoue said. “We got Elsie right away and stole Nolan from the meats team.”
They also understood the balance they needed and the dedication that was required to compete at the level they wanted to achieve.
“I wasn’t just doing it for myself,” Squires said. “Knowing you want to do it and do it for your friends that want it more. Getting up early and knowing I’m doing it for Connor, Nolan or Eli and not just myself gets you to practice.”
“We talk and compete with Sleepy Eye a lot,” Lightfoot said. “We don’t want to lose to them. That makes us work harder.”
“Adam Johnson from Sleepy Eye was someone we wanted to go after,” Carson Lanoue said. “After watching him a few years ago, that’s when I really started to get into it.”
One of the hardest parts of the competition is the test. The students study what is affectionately known as the “Chicken Bible.” After looking at the top three competitors from last year’s state results, each of those students had scored above 80. John Lanoue felt that if the team could put together scores over 80, they would have a good chance of reaching their goal. They spent the last month studying the test and then reviewing flash cards.
After practicing for months, the TAHS FFA team entered state competition with one goal: to win first. Once they knew they had placed in the top five and were on stage, the nerves really started to kick in. As the fifth- and fourth-place teams were announced, the feeling of being that close to the goal began to hit the team.
“I started shaking,” Lightfoot said. “I could hear my heartbeat.”
“It is the worst and the best feeling every time a name gets called,” Connor Lanoue said. “It is indescribable. Every time a team got named, I’d look at Eli and ‘whew.’” “People would ask me why I wasn’t smiling when I was on stage,” Lightfoot said. “I was so worried and nervous.”
“We didn’t want to get second again,” Squires added. “Because then it’s going through the whole process of winning again.”
In the final tally, TAHS edged the RTR poultry team by two points to take home the championship.
“I thought second was us because I didn’t hear Russell, I only heard the ’T’ sound,” Squires said. “All the weight lifted after it was us.”
The winning team will compete at the National FFA competition in October. However, one you are a state champion team, your team cannot compete again. The national competition brings the end of the poultry competition for Carson Lanoue, Lightfoot, Squires and Carlson, however the future is still bright for the team. Since Elsie Knott was the alternate this year, she is able to continue to compete.
“She was 21st at regions so she probably would have been in the top 25 at state,” John Lanoue said. “The hardest thing about coaching this team was having to tell her she was the alternate. She is an extremely intelligent kid and we’ll build our next team with Elsie at the helm.”
The regional competition is held in October, so the team competing in nationals this fall will get to use the regional competition as a practice. This is something the team has watched happen for the last several years and they are excited to be that team this fall.
While his name isn’t listed as a team member in the record books for this year’s poultry team, John Lanoue is still proud of how hard this team worked to achieve their goals and what it means for all the poultry teams that have competed for Tracy FFA, much like a family.
“It’s a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck,” John Lanoue said. “If they are on the poultry team, they are my kids. I’ve been doing this for 30 years and it’s always been elusive. After 30 years, there are still new things that come up. For 30 years, it’s always been in the back of my mind. If I can’t do it, I want to make sure I can teach someone else to do it. There is enthusiasm on my part that we finally got it. My entire family has been part of the poultry team and we have never been able to win it. It’s always been on my mind as far as what could we do. We always think we can win, and we finally did. This is for all the teams that just came up short. It’s super fun and it’s super fun that we were able to get all the parents there to celebrate with the kids. ”
