Rilyn Titus earns Champion Showman title at first contest appearance

Rilyn Titus, 15, of Kellogg made her very first appearance to the Brice Leonard Supreme Showmanship Contest this year at the Jasper County Fair and managed the secure the top prize against six other competitors, three of which were returning reserve champions looking for a chance to win it all.

Cadie Horn, Luci Kucera and Lauren Zaabel earned high points this year and have all been named the reserve champion at least once in the past three years, with the latter competitor earning the title once again this past week. Rylee DeHaai, Alyssa Machin and Avery Meyer also competed in the contest this year.

Titus entered the contest as the senior swine showman. She and her fellow competitors took turns showing horses, pigs, dairy and beef cows, sheep, goats and llamas. Following her victory at the Supreme Showmanship Contest, Titus credited all the hard work she put in at home. Still, she was surprised by the win.

“The dairy cow was a struggle for me, but I stepped in and I put the work in the two days after I found out that I was going to be competing in the Supreme Showmanship,” Titus said. “I worked with the sheep and the llamas and the dairy cow. I’ve shown cattle and goats before, and pigs obviously.”

Zaabel earned the reserve champion showman title for the first time in 2020. Back then, she said, the difference in scores between first and second place was by only one point. The same thing occurred this year when the former Jasper County Fair Queen finished the contest. Still, she kept a positive attitude.

“I’m feeling a lot of excitement and I’m really excited for Rylin,” Zaabel said. “She’s worked really hard these past couple of days in practicing with her animals. She has a lot of background on her livestock, too. So I’m very proud of her and I’m happy to named reserve champion showman.”

Zaabel was also thankful for the opportunity to show off her skills and everything she had learned in the past 12 hours. The day before the contest, Zaabel was named the senior beef showman, leaving her a small window of time to practice for the main event. “It was a quick turnaround,” she said.

The contest itself — sponsored by State Savings Bank and named after a past board member who died at age 33 — celebrated its 10th show this year. Zaabel was grateful for the opportunity to participate in the contest, and to spend time with and get to know six other girls.

“And get to know six other species of livestock that I’m not used to being around,” Zaabel said, noting it was the first time she had ever even touched a llama.

Although it certainly didn’t look it, Titus said she was very nervous at first. But when she completed the first showing she felt fine and way more confident to take on the contest. Titus kept telling herself all throughout the contest that no matter the outcome she was just proud that she made it to begin with.

Of course, she learned some valuable lessons along the way that she hopes to take with her well beyond livestock shows at the Jasper County Fair.

“I’ve learned to always try new things, like me trying the new animals,” she said. “And I learned to always put the hard work in.”