E. Tennessee State Youth Championship
7/28/2009 8:32:02 AM
Eastern Tennessee State Youth Championship was held on July 18th by the High Oaks Coon Club in Newport Tn. We had a good turnout as we started the day out with our 4th annual Fish Fry for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. All proceeds for the day go to this wonderful cause.
When the deadline for the bench show entries came we had 6 dogs entered. Callie Webb from Dandridge Tn., showing Webb’s Tree Talkin Ann came away with Best of Show Female honors. Brandon Heatherly of Jonesville, SC, handling Hall’s Kentucky Bruiser won Best of Show Male and also took the overall Youth Show Champion for 2009. If you look at the state standings for South Carolina you will see that Bruiser leads the state race with 8 cast wins. Brandon proved that Bruiser looks good in the day just the same as in the night.
When the time came to draw the dogs out for the night hunt we had 13 youth handlers heading to the woods to see if they could become the next Eastern Tn. Youth Champion. Before the deadline of 3:00am came all the casts were back at the club and I think every youth handler and their parents came back in.
No questions, squabbles or complaints from anyone so the only thing left to do was to determine the winners. Normally this is the easy part with only 4 casts but we had 4 different ties to be sorted out before the placements could be given out. After looking over the cards for several minutes the placements were determined and 13 year old Daniel Watson of Sevierville Tn. handling Watson’s Smokin Hot Blue Blaze came out on top with 550+. Daniel has been in the running for the youth championship every year for the last 4 years placing 3 of the 4 years. This year he was able to come out on top. Daniel even placed in last year’s Tennessee State Championship and not competing in a youth cast but with the big boys. (CLICK ON PHOTOS TO ENLARGE)
The 2nd place finisher also with 550+ was 10 year old Eli Murrell handling Nightime Black Buck. Eli also is no stranger to the competition world as he won the youth championship last year and was just a few tree points away from a repeat, handling a different hound this year. Look out coon hunting world. These two youth will be coming at you full bore in a few years. I have personally hunted with each and know they are very good at this game.
3rd Place winner was 16 yr. old Brandon Heatherly from Jonesville, SC handling Hall’s Kentucky Bruiser with 250+ (for all those in South Carolina, that’s cast win # 9). Owned by Mark Heatherly Brandon also owns the Buck dog that Eli handled to the 2nd place win.
Winding out the Cast winners is 14 yr. old Bret Nash of Cookeville Tn., handling Stylish Paris Hilton owned by Steve Nash with 200+. This win will move Paris Hilton up the state leader board as well. We may even have a youth handler win the state race. Who knows?
The rest of the top 10 finished as follows:
5th place 17 yr. old Logan Talley of Newport TN handling Black River Harley with 425+. Owned by Bobby Chambers of Newport TN
6th place 12 yr old Cody Mayne of Williamsburg KY handling Hardwood Peaches with 425+. Owned by Cody & Darrell Mayne
7th place 17 yr old Josh Sutton of Newport TN handling his own dog Ron’s Lucky Lady with 250+ (this was a tie for the cast win)
8th place 12 yr old Dillon Rathbone of Del Rio TN handling CNC Stylish Ranger owned by Dillon & Donald Rathbone
9th place 17 yr old Cody Ball of Newport TN handling Ball’s Cool Breeze owned by Calvin Ball also of Newport TN
10th place 14 yr. old Dylan Jones of Newport TN handling Fire Mtn Tobie owned by Jimmy Miller of Sevierville TN
The Best of Show Female Winner was Webb's Tree Talkin Ann owned by Mike Webb, handled by Callie Webb.
The Best of Show Male and Overall East Tennessee Youth Show Champion was Hall's Kentucky Bruiser owned by Mark Heatherly (right) handled by Brandon Heatherly (left).
The High Oaks Coon Club would like to thank Black Gold Dog Food for the jackets and every one who judged and guided and gave up a night of hunting your dog to help with the youth hunt. We also want to thank those that came to the fish fry for St. Jude’s as we made over $1,100 that will go with what we make at the TN State Championship on September 11 & 12. So come on out and let’s support this great cause.
One more thing I want to thank all the youth who came out and acted like mature adults and if they won the only way you could tell is by the big smile on their face not by any brags that they had. If they lost they still had a smile and no complaints no whining but just out having fun with friends new and old.
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