Kyndall Groeber, Kendra Stille and Matthew Oliver each celebrated another Grand Champion award at the Montgomery County Junior Livestock Auction on July 17 at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds.

All three of them walked out of the Fairgrounds with their second Grand Champion award. Kendra won her second straight Grand Champion title in the rabbit category, Kyndall won her first Grand Champion award since 2022 and Matthew won his first Grand Champion award in four years.

Kendra, Kyndall and Matthew were among 228 exhibitors at the five-plus hour livestock auction that ended close to midnight. Matthew said he didn’t mind waiting until the late hours to sell his goat, which is named Chipdip.

“I enjoyed it a lot watching everybody else around me have a good time selling their animals they worked hard for,” said Matthew, who will be in eighth grade this fall.

The other Grand Champions were Kolton Craven (chicken), Taylor Groteweil (hog) and Kristen Buesking (steer). The Reserve Champions were Bennett Freie (chicken), Lorena Uthlaut (lamb), Brody Ludy (hog), Emily Lampkin (steer), Carl Johnson (rabbit) and Lukas Oliver (goat).

There were 85 hogs in this year’s auction, up from 82 from last year. Rabbits made a big jump, going from 52 in 2024 to 68 this year.

Kendra, who is 12 years old, won Grand Champion for her rabbit named Thumper. She has 16 rabbits at her Bellflower home.

“I had four litters of rabbits for the fair,” Kendra said. “So he’s one of those litters. Right now, I have a bunch of rabbits that are out of his litter.”

Kendra became the second exhibitor in as many years to win a Grand Champion award in back-to-back years. Harrison Vomund earned Grand Champion honors in the hog category in 2023 and 2024.

“I was really surprised because I expected the rabbit that got reserve champion to get grand champion,” Kendra said. “Two times in a row is crazy.”

Kendra is in her fifth year as a member of the Kountry Kids 4-H Club, which is based in Jonesburg. She credits the club for helping her win Grand Champion again.

“It helped me immensely because the community is always helping me find better rabbits to help reach my goals,” Kendra said.

Three years ago, Kyndall won Grand Champion in the rabbit category. This year, she came out on top in the lamb category for her lamb named Chico, who was born at her house in the middle of the night.

Kyndall said after her win in 2022, she and her family wanted to expand on more animals at their home outside Montgomery City.

“We wanted to do more stuff,” Kyndall said. “So now we have rabbits and sheep. We’re starting steer.”

Matthew won Grand Champion honors in the chicken category in 2021. He said he was thrilled that he and his brother Lukas finished 1-2 in the goat category this year. It’s the first time since Alison and Codi Viehmann in 2021 that siblings won Grand Champion and Reserve Champion in the same category.

“It’s special,” Matthew said. “I’m glad I got it. I worked hard for it. I’m happy to get it.”

Matthew has raised Chipdip since March. He and his brother have a combined four goats at their home in Wellsville.

“He likes to eat,” Matthew said of Chipdip.

Lukas won Grand Champion honors in the goat category in 2022 and 2024.