BRENHAM, Texas (KRHD) — Devyn Gaff and Kinsey Gardner are two of 15 students across the country to win All-American livestock judging honors.
- The All-American judge award takes into account academic excellence and livestock judging success.
- Devyn and Kinsey have been involved with livestock judging since grade school and had set their sights on winning the title long ago.
- Their team has been on the road all year, competing at 15 different competitions across the state. Devyn and Kinsey won the title after winning first place at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.
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“I remember we were sitting in the ranking classroom and she walked in and both her and I were just kind of quiet, kept to ourselves — and I was like, 'Well, I wonder if she talks,' and we finally kind of broke each others' shells and we've been best friends ever since.”
Devyn Gaff and Kinsey Gardner do pretty much everything together — that mostly includes preparing for livestock judging competitions.
“We spent lots of time going over terms bouncing ideas back off each other and I think that's why we got to achieve success at such a high level," Gardner said.
Not only are they best friends and roommates, they're two of 15 students across the country to win All-American livestock judges this year.
“Fifteen students are recipients of the All American award and it's based on a combination of their grade point averages, their academic studies, but also their livestock judging success,” said coach, Adrian Austin.
This is an award that Devyn and Gaff have both been working towards long before they met.
“That was kind of a goal that I set when I started judging in third grade,” Gardner said.
“I started out when I was judging in fifth grade, and actually the way it works, is there's an All American for 4-H too — so me and Kinsey we both had the opportunity to be named all Americans for 4-H for 2022,” Gaff said.
Since they set their sights on All-American judges in grade school, their friendship was already sealed.
“Actually, we had been in national contest together before and we didn't realize it till we came to Blinn,” Gaff said.
