ROME TOWNSHIP – Carrie Collier sat down in her Grand Champion chair, posing for pictures.

Thursday, July 13, 2000

ROME TOWNSHIP – Carrie Collier sat down in her Grand Champion chair, posing for pictures.

Dozens of people stopped by with congratulations, hugs and smiles.

"It makes you see how hard you work when you compete with others," she said, just minutes after taking the top trophy in Wednesday’s lamb competition.

That’s because dozens of other 4-H club members brought stiff competition to the show ring for the second livestock judging of the week at the Lawrence County Fair.

"It took a lot of dedication and hard work to get here for everybody," the Rock Hill High graduate said.

Miss Collier, a member of the Kitts Hill Willing Workers, won once before, in 1993, and took reserve in 1992.

She earned Wednesday’s title with a Suffolk lamb named Hosscat.

And that title – coming in her next to last year in 4-H – is special, she said.

Seconds after the judge shook Miss Collier’s hand to announce her as champion, he reached over to Elizabeth Diamond, also in the Kitts Hill Willing Workers.

"It feels good," the Reserve Grand Champion winner said, a hand on her trophy.

After all, Miss Diamond has been trying for the last three to four years to earn a place in the championships.

Working at least eight hours with her lambs, preparing them for the livestock show ring, paid off, she said.

Her neighbor, and principal at Rock Hill High School, Steve Lambert agreed.

"I saw how hard she worked, out there every day for hours," he said, watching the show Wednesday.

"You get up in here and you have to know what you’re doing," he said. "It’s great for these kids to learn."

It’s not easy getting a lamb into the show ring, though, Ashley Wilson said as she waited calmly for one of the class competitions to start Wednesday.

"It’s hard work," she said. "You have to get up at the crack of dawn."

Only proper feeding, the right exercise and good care of a lamb will equal the muscle tone, long loin and proper amount of fat needed to raise a good lamb for the market, Miss Wilson said.

Sometimes, it works. In the first class, she placed first. Other times, like in the second class, you place tenth, she said.

But Miss Wilson likes the competition anyway, she said.

Every lamb and its owner is a winner just to make it to the fair, she added.