The Gordon Central High School Future Farmers of America Livestock Judging team made history recently. They won first place at the State FFA event for Livestock Judging in Athens.

Coach and advisor Melissa Hubbard said she was thrilled and proud of her students.

“When the winner was announced we were thrilled to say the least,” Hubbard said. “This has never been done in Georgia before, so we made history.”

Before then, she said, there was a moment of suspense.

“They got down to No. 5 and none of our kids’ names had been called out, so I was pretty worried,” recalled Hubbard.

But, she soon realized that they all placed in the top four slots.

Four members took the first four places in individual competition for livestock judging: high individual Timothy Hubbard, second high individual Taylor Langford, third high individual Lea Crump and fourth high individual Drew Thornton.

In the junior division, Tad Beilstein was the second high individual.

The competition took place at the University of Georgia on March 27. The Livestock Judging category featured more than 15 teams competing statewide with four members on teach team.

Members took part in such events as broiler grading, placing egg type hens and identifying chicken parts. They also looked at how well handlers control the animals as well as the build and the health of the livestock.

The team placed first overall and they were also the highest scoring individuals in the livestock judging category. The top three teams in each category get a chance to compete at the national meet in Indianapolis, Ind.

“It was a mixture of a sigh of relief and an overall feeling of satisfaction,” Langford said.

Team member Crump said “fabulous” is the one word that describes the victory. Team members agreed, saying the hard work paid off.

“It was the greatest feeling I ever had in my life,” said ninth-grade student Hubbard.

“You can do anything if you set your mind to it,” added Thornton.