The Montgomery County FFA chapter will have a total of four teams participating in state competition at the Missouri FFA State Convention this week in Columbia.

The chapter will have three teams in the CDE (Career Development Events) division and one in the LDE (Leadership Development Events) division at the three-day convention, which starts on Wednesday at the Hearnes Center in Columbia.

MCHS will compete in dairy cattle, soils and food science in the CDE division and ag issues in the LDE division. State competition for ag issues and soils is scheduled for Wednesday. Dairy cattle and food science competition will be on Thursday.

The ag issues team of juniors Lily Hillebrand, Lafe McCurdy, Ann Rose, Olivia Spurgeon, Jillian Weekey and Alaina Zerr qualified for state by placing fourth in LDE district competition on March 23 at Monroe City High School. The team presented a skit presentation on the data center and the agricultural and environmental impacts it could bring to Montgomery County. It placed second at area competition.

The ag issues state competition will be at the Wyndham Executive Center at 10 a.m. There will be 18 teams in the state round.

Freshman Anna Kay Johnson and sophomores Addie Schroer, Kenley Wessel and Emma Cobb are the members of the food science team. The squad qualified for state by placing fifth in district competition on March 30 in Macon. Joining MCHS at state are district champion Palmyra, Monroe City, South Shelby and Newton-Harris.

Individually at districts, Johnson placed third with a score of 238. The freshman placed behind district champion Hannah Struder of Monroe City and Luke Coggeshall of Palmyra.

Schroer and Wessel finished in a three-way tie with Salisbury’s Olivia Henke for 22nd with a score of 202. Cobb finished in a tie for 47th with Westran’s Kaylen Johnson with a 174.

All four members were judged on aromas, problem solving, product specification compliance and customer inquiries on issues and hazards. They also took objective tests and triangle tests.

The food science state competition will start at 9:30 a.m. at the MU Memorial Union. The finals will follow at 1:45 p.m. at the Eckles Hall and Event Center.

The soils teams of junior Reed Pottebaum, sophomores Owen Hillebrand and Thomas Happe and freshman Keane Ridgley placed eighth with a score of 567 in district competition on April 1 at Macon. Pottebaum turned in the team’s highest finish, placing in a tie for second with Troy’s Grace Jacobsmeyer with a 214. Hillebrand finished in a tie for 12th with Troy’s Chloe Detjen. Ridgley and Happe were 45th and 46th, respectively.

The other teams in district competition that qualified for state were champion North Shelby, Troy, Elsberry, Palmyra, Winfield, Ashland and Brunswick. Clara Uhlmeyer of North Shelby won the individual district title.
The soils state competition will be off-site and will start at 10 a.m. There will be 48 teams and 192 students in the state event.

McCurdy, Weekley, senior Wyatt March and junior Dallas Hans are the MCHS representatives of the dairy cattle team. The squad finished in a three-way tie for eighth with Columbia and Madison at districts.
The other state qualifiers were champion Putnam County, Memphis, Warrenton, Monroe City, Centralia, Bucklin, Brookfield and Silex. Lily Wheeler of Memphis was the district champion.

McCurdy tied for fourth with Centralia’s Gradon Hedberg with a 351 to lead MCHS. Hans was 22nd, March came in 57th and Weekley finished 67th.

State competition for dairy cattle will be held at the Trowbridge Show Arena at 8:15 a.m.

Also, the MCHS dairy foods team of Max Angel, Sullee Falloon, Journey Ford and Aurora Gibson was named alternate for state competition after placing 10th in district competition.