SYRACUSE -- If "Livestock Jeopardy" becomes a television game show, four Davis County teens could clean up as contestants.
Syracuse residents Michelle Thurgood and Paula Anderson, along with Layton resident Geena Gross and Farmington resident Kendall Ritz, on Friday captured the Western National Roundup Livestock Bowl Championship at the National Livestock Show in Denver and Fort Collins, Colo.
The four Davis teens, who regularly show animals at the Davis County Fair, bested teams from Florida, Arizona, Wyoming and Missouri to claim the national title.
"It's a big one. It makes these kids national champions," said Scott Bass, Davis County livestock superintendent.
Bass, who along with two family-related coaches accompanied the students to the four-day event, said the team was given the award Sunday.
All four team members received a large, purple rosette ribbon for their efforts.
The four teens, who are Davis County 4-H students, competed in a quiz-show format with the questions relating to raising and caring for cattle, swine and sheep.
The questions were pulled from three college-level manuals, and the teens were given the opportunity to study before the competition, Bass said.
"(The students) have to be the first to buzz in -- like a Jeopardy format, kind of," he said.
Bass said the students, who captured the state 4-H competition at Utah State University to earn a spot in the national event, held study sessions before the national conference and appeared to "shell shock" the teams they competed against.
"We all just studied together. We're all friends. We all show livestock at the Davis County Fair together. We grew as a group," said Gross, the Davis 4-H team captain.
It helped that each student on the team has been raising livestock since age 8 and that each team member specializes in raising different animals, she said.
"I was just really happy we could win it," said Gross, a 19-year-old who raises boar goats and cattle.
Ritz, 18, said he found the quiz-show format nerve-racking with both individual and group questions being posed.
But Ritz, a graduate of Davis High who is preparing to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said his team put a lot of time into studying.
"My teammates were prepared," he said. "We did well on the group questions. We pulled through together as a team."
Ritz has been showing steers for four years and sheep for seven years.
Thurgood said the team didn't expect to win, but did prepare for it by studying hard.
The Davis County 4-H program is part of the Utah State University Ag Extension program based in the county's Memorial Courthouse in downtown Farmington.
For more information on Davis 4-H, call 801-451-3410.
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