Local Youth Take Championships at 2009 American Rabbit Breeder's Convention

Did you know that local kids have recently been National winners, and brought National titles back to Mendocino County?

What started out as simple 4-H rabbit projects, have been taken to increasingly higher levels over the years by Jessica Crowhurst of Redwood Valley, Colton Pinson and Alicia Welling, both of Willits. These kids keep setting goals, achieving them, and setting higher goals; moving from the local level, to the State level and in 2009 they set their sights on competing at the National level. The American Rabbit Breeders Association's National Convention rotates around the United States, and only comes to California about once every decade. Since the 2009 National Convention was held in San Diego, California, they jumped at the chance to compete with the best in the United States.

To that end, they not only worked diligently at improving their rabbits, but they worked and studied to improve their skills and knowledge. They traveled together last spring, competing up and down the state in an effort to qualify for teams for the youth competitions at the American Rabbit Breeders Association's (ARBA) National Convention. How exciting it was to hear the announcement in early summer that Colton, then 11 years old, had placed first in the State as a junior in judging. Jessica, 15 years old, placed sixth in the state in senior judging. Alicia, 18 years old, ended up eighteenth. All three kids made judging and Breed Identification teams for the National Competition!

All three of them made it down to San Diego for the Nationals the first week of November (with the financial support of family and friends.) It was quite an adjustment to compete at such a high level. There were over 13,000 rabbits! There were two hundred seventy youth from across the United States competing in the youth contests! What a sight to see hundreds of kids in their white show coats, lined up, waiting to compete.

After the first round of the Royalty competitions, excitement ran high as all three of the Mendocino County kids were in the top percentage. They were each called back for the final step of the competition, the interview. What an accomplishment! Jessica and Alicia were also among the top twelve of all the seniors in the judging contest and were called back to judge in the final phase of that contest.

The fact that they were competing at a National level with rabbits bred in a small town did not matter when these kids put their rabbits up on the judging table. All three youth have been raising their own show rabbits for years. Out of 365 Netherland Dwarf rabbits in the youth show, Colton won Best junior of Variety with his Smoke Pearl Marten, and he had some other top placings. One of Jessica's young black Dutch does won the largest class of Dutch in the youth show. There were a total of 180 Dutch in the youth show. Alicia's Californian rabbits did extremely well. She won a couple classes and her Intermediate Californian buck went on to win Best of Breed out of all 128 Californians in the youth show!

The Grand Finale was the youth awards banquet on Wednesday night at the Hilton. The banquet hall was filled to overflowing for the catered dinner, with many girls dressed in floor length evening gowns. It was quite an affair. Another eye opening experience for small town kids.

When the awards were given out, these three kids put Mendocino County on the map! Colton Pinson was named a National Winner in the educational contest for his photography entries. Alicia Welling placed second in the Nation in individual senior judging. Jessica Crowhurst was a team member on the District 2 senior judging team which placed second in that highly competitive contest. She was also named the winner of District 2 (which includes 5 Western States and Mexico) in the senior Achievement contest.

The biggest, most prestigious awards were announced last. These are the Royalty contests. They are like the “all around” title. To compete in Royalty, the kids submit a lengthy summary of their and their rabbits' activities and achievements over the years. Then at the event, they compete in judging classes of rabbits and cavies (guinea pigs), which requires knowledge and critical thinking skills. They also compete in breed identification in which they identify the breed, showroom classification, variety and whether that breed has four or six classes, for each of the twenty five animals in the competition. This requires extensive knowledge of all 47 breeds of rabbits and 13 breeds of cavies. Another component is the two hundred question knowledge test on a vast variety of information on all facets of raising rabbits, including diseases and anatomy. An interview with a panel of adults is the final phase. The youth with the overall high score from all the events combined is the winner.

The Royalty contest is broken into age groups. Competitors under 9 years of age compete for the title of Lord or Lady. 9 – 11 Prince or Princess. 12 – 14 Duke or Duchess. 15 – 18 King or Queen.

At the National Convention, the Queen division was by far the largest, with 46 girls from across the nation competing for that title. Imagine the shock when the final award of the night was announced, “and the 2009 ARBA Queen is ... Jessica Crowhurst! What, a 15 year old, attending her first National Convention, competing in Royalty for only the third time in her life, was proclaimed the winner of that grand title?

As Jessica said later, “I couldn't believe that I had actually won! It was the best night of my life. I had worked so hard and put in so many hours of studying and practicing, and it paid off.”

There is nothing harder, no higher level of testing in the United States for kids to strive for in the field of rabbit knowledge and skill. To this point, no one can remember the last time a California girl won Queen. If it has happened, it has not been within the last 30 years. So what is next for Jessica? Well, her hope is that she can go to the ARBA Nationals in 2010 to try to defend her title.

The catch is that the National Convention is in Minnesota in November 2010! Alicia has gone off to college at Cal Poly, and will not be eligible to compete in the youth contests after turning 19 this year. Jessica and Colton, however, have already set their goals to get to Minnesota and compete in the ARBA Nationals. They have already started working, studying and saving. It seems like a tough goal, but if there is one things we have learned, it is; Don't underestimate youth, especially these youth!