WIU agriculture students earn top honors

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Students from the Western Illinois University School of Agriculture earned multiple team and individual honors at the 2026 North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Judging Conference, hosted by Illinois State University in Bloomington.

WIU students competed in Agricultural Education, Portfolio, Livestock Judging, Dairy Cattle Judging, Knowledge Bowl, and Crops events.

The WIU School of Agriculture earned first-place team finishes in Portfolio, Livestock Judging Overall, Cattle, Sheep and Goats, Swine Judging, and Livestock Judging Reasons.

“I’m extremely proud of our students for the effort they put into preparing for this competition. As a first-year coach for the Agricultural Education and Portfolio teams, it was a huge success to see these wins,” said Dusti Ingles, WIU assistant professor of agriculture.

“Mark Hoge, assisted by Coby Frey, continues to coach championship livestock judging teams. Leatherneck Livestock showed up for this contest ready to end an extraordinary season with excellence. I was also excited to see students stretch themselves and compete in new areas like Knowledge Bowl, Crops and Dairy Judging.”

WIU individual award recipients included:

Agricultural Education

• First place, Room 4 — Amanda Niemann, senior, Litchfield

• Third place, Room 2 — Hannah Morris, senior, Fair Grove, Missouri

Portfolio

• First place — Niemann.

Livestock Judging Overall

• First place — Carter Hoge, senior, Good Hope

• Second place — Rob Rogers, junior, Mansfield

• Third place — Ally Loosen, senior, Hartford

Cattle

• First place — Hoge.

• Second place — Rogers

Sheep And Goats

• First place — Slone Windish, senior, Brimfield

• Second place — Marcus Eastridge, senior, Taswell

• Third place — Hoge

Reasons

• First place — Rogers

• Second place — Hoge

Swine

• Second place — Haley Wells, senior, Somerville, Massachusetts

• Third place — Loosen

In addition to the April 22-25 judging competitions, Niemann presented an empirical research poster titled “Impact of Soybean Maturity Group Selection on Yield and Seed Traits in a Soybean-Pennycress Rotation.”

The poster, co-authored by Tad Wasley, Mary Phippen, Nicholas Heller and Winthrop Phippen, placed 10th in the competition.