Livestock Judging team, first place.

Black Hawk College East Campus students, once again, took the top spot in the 2026 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture NACTA Judging Conference Sweepstakes Award.

More than 50 BHC students participated in 13 contests April 22-25 at Illinois State University.

This marks the 17th time Black Hawk College has garnered the top prize at the national judging conference. BHC students brought home the Sweepstakes Award in 1981-85, 1989, 2009, 2014, 2016-19 and 2022-25. The contest was not held in 2020 and 2021.

The judging conference is open to all two-year and four-year schools that have institutional NACTA membership. The BHC team won by having the highest combined team score for two-year schools.

Black Hawk College coaches:

● Grace Angotti – Dairy Cattle Judging, Knowledge Bowl and Livestock Judging
● Dr. Blake Bloomberg – Dairy Cattle Judging, Livestock Judging and Livestock Management
● Aaron Callahan – Hippology, Horse Judging and Parliamentary Procedure
● Drew Cotton – Ag Education and Agribusiness
● Janet Johnson – Ag Computers and Vet Science
● Cole Wright – Precision Ag and Soils

Top team and top individual results

Dairy Cattle Judging Team – 2nd
Top individual placings:
● 4th – Faith Lortie
● 6th – Emily Fritz
● 10th – Kelsey Zepp
● 11th – Hannah Miller

Hippology Team – 1st
Top individual placings:
● 1st – Talisa Thomas
● 2nd – Ellie Ellis

Horse Judging Team – 1st and 2nd in Halter, Performance, Reasons and Overall
Top individual placings:
● 1st – Ellie Ellis
● 2nd – Talisa Thomas
● 3rd – Allison Copland

Knowledge Bowl team first place winners.

Knowledge Bowl Team – 1st
Team members – Karsyn Cocanower, Logan Goerks, Grace Hingtgen, Hannah Miller, Olivia Shike and Kynseth Zubrod

Livestock Judging Team – 1st
Top individual placings:
● 1st – Kashen Ellerbrock
● 4th – Hannah Miller
● 7th – Caleb Kruse

Livestock Management Team – 1st
Top individual placings:
● 1st – Olivia Shike
● 3rd – Hannah Miller
Additional team members – Karsyn Cocanower and Kynseth Zubrod

Precision Ag team, third place winner.

Precision Ag Team-3rd
Team members-Logan Goerks, Luke Nelson, Chase Ragar and Reuben Knepper

Soils team, first place.

Soils Team – 1st
Top individual placings:
● 1st – Logan Goerks
● 2nd – Rachel DeRycke
● 3rd – Chase Rager
● 4th – Luke Nelson
● 8th – Emily West

Vet Science team first place winners.

Veterinary Science Team – 1st
Top individual placings:
● 2nd – Grace Cruise
● 3rd – Lydia Barnett