ROME TOWNSHIP — It all came down to eye contact and the ease of setting up their animals during the junior and senior goat showmanship competition on Tuesday at the Lawrence County Fair.

Dylan Back, 15, a Farm Hands member, took the senior honor, while 11-year-old Gracie Daniels, a Gingham and Denim member, took the junior award.

Judge Julie Morrow, of New Concord, had the competitors swap animals with each other to see how they handled it.

“I want to see what you can do with an animal you’re not used to and animal that’s not used to you,” Morrow said.

For Back, the hard work and knowledge of his animal paid off.

“It feels really good,” he said. “I worked really hard. You have to spend many hours. You’ve got to get the goats used to you.”

This year was Daniels’ third showing goats and credited her win to working with her animal daily.

It feels pretty good,” she said. “We walked him everyday and worked on setting and bracing him.”

Monday’s market goat show went on as planned despite the evening’s rough weather.

Back took the reserve championship award.

“That felt really good, too,” he said. “It’s just a lot of hard work.”

Haley Pancake, 14, member of the Arabia All-Stars, took the grand champion win.

“It felt pretty good,” she said. “I was bawling.”

This wasn’t Pancake’s first time in the winner’s circle, as she won about four years ago, she said.

“I felt confident,” she said. “I didn’t know who was going to get it, but I was happy with whoever got it.”