Dirksen wins one for the boys

There had been a pattern in the large animal supreme showmanship competition.

Girls won the trophy seven times in a row, starting with Kyndal Miller in 2015 and continuing through Lindy Mercer last year.

Eli Dirksen broke the trend.

Dirksen, an eight-year member, took the trophy Thursday evening as he beat out seven competitors for the Jay County 4-H large animal supreme showmanship title.

“I was genuinely surprised,” said Dirksen. “I really didn’t think I had much of a shot going up against a lot of 10-year members.

“I thought it was going to be pretty tough to win.”

He said he was unaware of the run of girls who have held the traveling trophy.

But he was happy to learn he was the one who snapped the streak.

“Now I feel pretty honored about it,” Dirksen said.

In many of the last eight years, the girls had not only won the trophy but outnumbered the boys in making it to the supreme showmanship competition. (The advanced showmanship winner for each species moves on to represent their group.) That included 2015, when Eden Basford (meat goats), Taylor Campbell (sheep), Deanna Chenoweth (swine), Carissa Mercer (dairy), Lyla Muhlenkamp (dairy beef), Lizzy Schoenlein (beef) and Sarah Schwieterman (horse) joined Miller (dairy goats) as the girls swept their way into supreme showmanship.

Schoenlein took the trophy in 2016, followed by Alli Campbell (2017), Eden Basford (2018), Skye Wimmer (2019), Chloe Campbell (2021) and Mercer (2022). (There was no competition in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic.)

The last boy to win the trophy was Hunter Prescott, who was on hand Thursday as the judge for the dairy beef portion of the competition. (He was the only judge not to rank Dirksen, who was representing dairy beef.)

“I think that’s cool that girls have been winning, but I’m glad a Dirksen could bring it back to the guys,” said Prescott, who now works in sales for Fennig Equipment of Coldwater, Ohio.

Dirksen took the competition over Levi Homan (sheep), Cash Hollowell (horse), Bretton Basford (meat goat), Joseph Kunk (dairy goat), Raven Dale (beef), Seth Degler (dairy) and Tyler Armstrong (swine).

He was typically stoic throughout the competition Thursday, keeping his focus on each animal.

His biggest challenge was with the meat goats.

“I don’t think they’ve got a good attitude,” he said. “A lot of people don’t like sheep. I don’t mind sheep.

“I don’t like how (meat goats) cooperate. They’re very stubborn.”

His most confident area, outside of the dairy cattle he shows regularly, was with swine. He credited Max McClain with helping him learn how to show the species.

“I really liked doing the hogs,” said Dirksen, who in addition to 4-H plays basketball and tennis for Jay County High School and is also involved in FFA. “I thought that was pretty easy. I liked hogs. I would like to show one sometime. Maybe. Two more years.”