MOUNT VERNON — Cory Prosser was named Showman of Showmen in the large animal class and Anevin Tharp captured the Showman of Showmen award for the class of small animals during competition Wednesday night. Coming in second place in the large animal category was Thad Tuggle; second place in the small animal category was Lauren Harvey.

All of the competitors in the event had previously won a master showmanship award for a specific animal. In the Showman of Showmen competition, the master showmen show not only their species, but also other animals and breeds with which they are less familiar. Each animal was judged by a different judge; the results tallied later in the evening and the winners announced this morning.

Prosser has been showing beef steers for 10 years and won the mastershowmanship award in that category, but after only having a few hours on Wednesday afternoon to prepare for the Showman of Showmen competition, he wasn’t sure how he faired.

“I thought I did pretty good yesterday, but I didn’t know,” said Prosser.

He said that after winning the beef showmanship event, he ran around trying to find people to help him quickly prepare for the Showman of Showmen competition.

Tharp has been involved with showing animals for seven years and said she felt good after receiving the award in the small animal category. She is familiar with showing nearly all animals, except for horses, llamas and ducks.

“I thought I did pretty good,” said Tharp, “but I wasn’t really sure how good I did.”

Brian Breece judged the dairy market feeder category, and said he was looking for basic showmanship skills.

“I don’t look for anything too technical,” said Breece, who teaches agriculture at Mount Vernon High School. He noted that he tried to gauge the competitors knowledge of species and breeds they did not usually show, checking to see if they had done some extra research after winning their respective master showmanship award.

“I kind of look for the kids that maybe spent a little time the last day or two, since they found out that they won their showmanship, they had little time to go out and do a little studying to find out, ‘What do I need to show this animal?’ It’s a neat opportunity for the kids to experience another species,” said Breece, noting that the participants in the Showman of Showmen competition were “the cream of the crop” after winning their respective master showmanship awards.

Derek Adam, a member of the Junior Fair Board and a co-superintendent of the Showman of Showmen committee, was overseeing the competition for small animals. He said he felt the event went off without a hitch.

“I think, overall, everything went smoothly. The animals cooperated for the participants very well,” said Adam.

He also noted that, in his opinion, the judges were pleased with the flow of the competition.

There were a few uncooperative animals in the large animal competition, specifically the beef cattle and lambs. Ben Bennett, also a junior fair board member and co-superintendent of the Showman of Showmen committee who oversaw the large animal events, said that uncooperative animals can either have a positive or negative effect on final scores.

If an animal is being uncooperative and the person showing it is able to control it, said Bennett, this can add to the showman’s score. However, if an animal is uncooperative and not able to be controlled, this can detract from the participant’s score.

One particularly uncooperative beef steer, said Bennett, was usually very tame, but was not used to being let by a stranger.

“It’s a prime example of how when someone else takes control of [the animal] it can be totally different,” said Bennett. “It’s just kind of a chance that we have to take.”

In addition to Prosser and Tuggle, competing in the large animal category were: David Bennett, Abby Love, Katherine Graumlich, Samantha Wilson and Linsey Howell.

In addition to Tharp and Harvey, the other competitors in the small animal category were Sarah Hohman, Andy Rieman and Aaron Pospisil.