UPDATED WITH VIDEO: Nolan Ensor named 4-H Supreme Showman

Monday, July 27, 2015
Nolan Ensor (center) was named the winner of the Putnam County 4-H Supreme Showmanship contest Thursday night. The representative of the swine barn is joined by Fair Queen Kristen Stevens and trophy sponsor Tom Hendricks. This story will be updated. (Banner Graphic/Sabrina Westfall)

Watch the video to see the contestants in action, showing several different species.


Nolan Ensor said holding the large Supreme Showman trophy at the conclusion of his 10 years of 4-H has been a dream of his for years.

Ensor, of Greencastle, is the 18-year-old son of Jamie Ensor and Mary Harrigan.

The six contestants were the grand champions for their species. Each participant had to show a horse, beef cattle, goat, dairy cow, sheep and swine. They were unable to show their own animal, thus putting their showmanship skills to the test.

Ensor said while this was a long-standing dream for him to rise out of the swine barn to participate in the competition, it took his good friend Grant Colvin participating last year to allow him this feat.

"It was a battle getting past him," Ensor said with a laugh following Thursday's contest. "He got out of the hog barn last year and this was my year."

Ensor has been showing swine for all 10 years of his 4-H career and also showed cows for six years. Additionally, he helped out in the sheep barn over the years, which he said helped a lot as he stepped into the Inside Arena for the competition.

The hardest task for him to master was preparing for the horse show. Ensor said he never thought he would have to show a horse unless he made it this far.

He credited the help of 2011 Supreme Showman Logan Pell for teaching him the ropes of showing a horse and teaching him a little knowledge.

While showing the animal was a big part of the competition, the contestants also had to present some knowledge about the animal they were showing. Each judge asked a single question of the participants, which was factored into the score.

"There was a lot of pressure to study the animals and breeds to know what to tell the judge," Ensor said.

"I'm so happy. I've worked hard for this. This (contest) is all I've wanted to do. I've worked hard every summer to achieve this goal."

Ensor's next goal is to be successful in the upcoming Indiana State Fair. He has not thought past that event, but anticipates he will be sad once it's over.

The other participants included Corbin Judy representing the dairy barn, Rachel Sutherlin representing the beef barn, Brynne Shuee representing the sheep barn, Jessica Hays representing the goat barn and Justin Pitts representing the horse barn.

The Supreme Showmanship trophy is annually sponsored by Tom Hendricks.

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  • Congratulations to all of the participants.

    -- Posted by tljpitts on Sat, Jul 25, 2015, at 6:52 PM
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