McClure wins supreme trophy

The path was anything but direct.

It still ended with a trophy.

Five years after she earned a spot in the small animal supreme showmanship competition, Aubree McClure took home the trophy on Tuesday afternoon.

“(It was) like everything just stopped.” said McClure, reliving the moment her name was called. “I’m just happy for everybody who’s here and everybody who helped me.”

McClure first won an advanced showmanship award, which would typically result in an opportunity at the supreme showmanship trophy, in 2020. But there was no contest that year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I tried back in 2020 before COVID hit, and then because COVID hit all I got was a t-shirt,” she said. “I didn’t get to (compete).”

The supreme showmanship competition pits the advanced showmanship winners from each of the species against each other. They must show each of the species with the exception of the one from which they advanced.

The animals to be shown are distributed via blind draw.

Also competing Tuesday were Alivia Toney (cat), Madi Paxson (poultry), Nevaeh Brower (rabbit) and Tuck Hemmelgarn (pygmy goat).

McClure won out of an experienced group, as all of Tuesday’s competitors had previous experience in the small animal supreme showmanship competition. Paxson and Hemmelgarn both competed in 2023, Toney advanced for her third consecutive year and Brower was vying for the title for the fourth year in a row.

Aubree McClure shows a rabbit during Tuesday afternoon’s Jay County 4-H small animal supreme showmanship competition in the Show Arena at the Jay County Fair. Rabbits were the only species McClure was unfamiliar with, as she has shown all of the other species during her nine-year 4-H career. (The Commercial Review/Ray Cooney)

 

“There were a lot of high expectations from everybody I know,” said McClure. “Also a lot of really good showmen I went against. So I really thought I wasn’t going to win.”

Familiarity was key for McClure, who earned her spot in the competition by earning the advanced showmanship title during Friday’s dog show. In addition to dogs, she has also shown poultry, pygmy goats and cats during her 4-H career.

That left showing a rabbit as the biggest hurdle between her and the trophy.

“It’s the only one out of all of those species I don’t know how to do,” she said.

McClure said she has shown every species with the exception of swine and sheep during her nine-year 4-H career.

A Jay County High School senior, she is also involved with Jay County FFA and the Jay County JROTC program.

After earning her trophy, she was quick to take a group picture with her 4-H leaders. She credited them for her success.

“I’m really happy for everybody who helped me,” McClure said. “They were there from the first year I started all the way up til now, helping me with every step of it, always making sure they did the best they could to make sure I had the best opportunities.”