Meat Judging Team Wins First Fall Contest

The Texas Tech Meat Judging Team won its first competition of the fall judging season on Oct. 1 at the 2011 Eastern National Intercollegiate Meat Judging Contest in Wyalusing, Pa. The Red Raiders earned top honors, scoring 4,071 points – defeating their nearest competitor by 44 points.

The team won the beef, lamb and pork judging divisions along with the total placing division.

Mark Miller, Horn professor and coach of the team, said the devotion of all members has lifted them to reach the goals they set this season.

“The team won the reasons division by 42 points,” he said. “This is an area they have committed themselves to, to improve and achieve excellence.”

Four of the Texas Tech team members finished in the top eleven overall. Jerra McMath, senior from Estancia, N.M., was second overall. Zach Smith, a junior from Sweetwater was fourth; Dakotah Williams, a junior from Glenrose, was ninth; and Drew Cashman, a junior from New Windsor, Md., was eleventh.

Additional team members include:

• Travis Begley, a junior from Plainview
• Blaine Corliss, a senior from Estancia, N.M.
• Cody Helms, a senior from Cleburne
• Faith Jurek, a junior from Goldthwaite
• Mandy-Jo Laurent, a junior from Nacogdoches
• Andrea Nordman, a senior from Florence
• Craig Russell, a senior from Visalia, Calif.
• Natalee Smith, a senior from Albemarle, N.C.
• Cody Sultenfuss, a junior from Little-River Academy
• Kaitlyn True, a junior from Plainview
• Amanda White, senior from Garden City, Kan.

White won the alternate division and was followed closely by her teammate Helms, who was second. Sultenfuss, Begley and True finished fourth, fifth and eighth overall in the alternate division, respectively.

The team proudly retired the contest cup with the help of the 2009 and 2010 teams, which had won the previous years. The cup will remain permanently in the Gordon W. Davis Meat Science Laboratory at Texas Tech.

The 2011 team will compete next at the American Royal on Oct. 16 in Omaha, Neb.