Among the notable awards Tracy earned: The Livestock team took first place overall, the chapter was the overall state winner for Models on Innovation, four students earned their state degrees and a handful of students will be advancing to nationals.

Also, Tracy FFA had its largest group of members attend the state convention.

“We work hard over the years … We stay very active. We do events all year, we go all the way to FarmFest and work there, the Lyon County fair. We help around the community,” Tracy student and FFA member Eli Lightfoot said. “It feels good to be part of one of the top chapters in the state.”

The first-place Livestock team, coached by Jeff Knott, consisted of Carson Lanoue, Melaina Ankrum, Lawton Verlinde, Nolan Verlinde and Callie Johns. Individually, Lanoue placed third overall out of 237 students. Ankrum placed 12th, while Lawton and Nolan Verlinde followed in 37th and 62nd, respectively, with Johns as an alternate.

Photo submitted by Elizabeth Rupp: Tracy FFA member Carson Lanoue stands with his award for finishing in third place individually overall in the Livestock competition at the 2026 state convention.

“The day before, we got some of the results, and we thought we didn’t do the best on some of the classes. We found out we got top five, and we’re like, ‘OK, we probably got fourth or fifth,” Ankrum said. “They started calling names, and when they got to second place, we were really surprised.”

“I was shocked when they named the second place team, and we weren’t it,” Lawton Verlinde added.

The team put in several hours of work throughout the year to get to this point. Lanoue said that practice consisted of multiple classes on judging swine, beef, goats and sheep, and having to rank them and give professional reasoning. They also went through team activities on livestock tests and studying data.

“We get assigned reasons to do at home, and then we memorize them,” Johns said. “Then, we send videos to our coach of us saying our reasons.”

“I’m humbled, because these kids have worked so hard. I’m super excited that they won the whole thing,” coach Knott said. “We asked them to come into school early mornings and practice, and then we assign some classes at night that they need to review … It’s early mornings, it’s late nights. It’s taken a lot of commitment from them. This team has been very talented.”

Photo submitted by Elizabeth Rupp: Tracy FFA member Eli Lightfoot stands with his award for being named a state winner in the Agricultural Mechanics Repair and Maintenance proficiency at the 2026 state convention.

The Livestock team placed 13th at state last year, showcasing a significant jump in just a year’s turnaround.

“Two years ago, we were in the top five with the same team. Last year, they got on the wrong side of a few classes. Obviously, they were disappointed, but I think it also motivated and inspired them to work a little harder this year,” coach Knott said. “It’s a really, really good group of kids … I’m super proud of them.”

With its top finish, the Livestock team will be advancing to nationals.

“I thought it was pretty surreal and unexpected,” Lanoue said. “Getting to go to nationals now with Livestock, and competing at state, going on stage and winning, it’s the kind of memories you’ll never forget.”

Tracy FFA was also the state winner for Models of Innovation, and was named the fifth-ranked chapter in the state. The ranking is based on 15 activities that the chapter completes through the year, in the key areas of Growing Leaders, Strengthening Agriculture and Building Communities. For the first time, Tracy was named a finalist in two of the three areas.

Photo submitted by Elizabeth Rupp: Tracy FFA members Shelby Johnson (left) and Lauren Torkelson (right) stand with their state-winning and state runner-up trophies in the Outdoor Recreation proficiency at the 2026 state convention.

This is Tracy’s highest-ever state ranking, and is the fifth year ranked as a top 10 chapter.

“They (evaluators) look at all the activities that every chapter did throughout the whole year, and then they choose three finalists in each of the three categories,” FFA advisor Elizabeth Rupp said. “They choose a winner for each category. We were finalists in two, and then we won one. Then they choose the overall winner.”

Tracy was named a finalist in the Strengthening Agriculture area for its “Coffee Connections” activity it hosted, where the chapter invited local farmers to a breakfast during FFA week in February. Additionally, Tracy was a finalist in the Building Communities for its work with the “Help Tuck Them In” project, which went on to be recognized as the winning activity for the Building Communities, and was named the top overall winning project in Minnesota.

“We helped out the Lions (Club) with making beds and sanding beds,” Lightfoot said. “A couple random Saturday mornings, we’d go and work on these beds. We talked about that in our application, sent it to the state, and then we won.”

Elsie Knott, Lightfoot and Katelyn Ruppert will also be individually representing Tracy at the national level.

Photo submitted by Elizabeth Rupp: Four Tracy FFA members earned their state degrees at the 2026 state convention. Left to right stands FFA state president Cameron Addington with Tracy students Connor Lanoue, Lawton Verlinde, Eli Lightfoot and Adam Hippe.

Knott placed first in the Agriscience Fair Project in Animal Science Division Three.

“Over the summer, I was in my dad’s research barn, and we did a trial where we tested four different pig diets for nursery pigs to see if we could make them gain more weight while maintaining performance, or keep their performance at a reduced cost,” Knott said of her project.

Lightfoot and Ruppert placed first in their proficiencies — Lightfoot was the state winner in Ag Mechanical Repair and Maintenance, as was Ruppert for Vegetable Production. Their applications will be passed onto nationals.

Shelby Johnson also was the state winner for Outdoor Recreation.

“I was surprised, since it’s my first year doing that proficiency. I did work on it pretty hard … Usually you don’t win your first year,” Lightfoot said. “I kept track of what I do. I work at the LaVoy’s Repair here in Tracy, and I just keep track of my hours, my pay, I talk about what I do, what the challenges are, and I put that on an application and do an interview.”

Photo submitted by Elizabeth Rupp: Tracy FFA members Taylor Squires (left) and Carson Lanoue (right) stand with the chapter's state-winning Models of Innovation award for Building Communities.

Yet, Tracy had eight total student applications place in the top three for their respective proficiency applications. Lauren Torkelson placed second in Outdoor Recreation, Taylor Squires finished in third place in Turf and Landscape Management, Clara Buyck had a third-place finish in Beef Production while Brok Roggatz took second in Diversified Crop Production and third in Forage Production.

Adding onto Tracy’s success, four students earned their Minnesota State FFA Degree, which is the highest state-level honor one can receive. Earning a state degree requires being an FFA member for two years, complete 360 hours of agriculture instruction and invest either $2,000 or 300 hours in a Supervised Agricultural Experience. Additionally, students must complete 25 or more hours in community service, and participate in 10 activities above the chapter level.

Adam Hippe, Connor Lanoue, Lightfoot and Lawton Verlinde all earned their state degrees.

Tracy had 11 Career Development Events (CDE) teams qualify for the state convention, and four of them earned a top-10 finish. Along with the Livestock team’s first-place finish, the Soils team took seventh place, Milk Quality placed eighth and the Poultry Evaluation team came in ninth.

“We just take pride in FFA. We put in all of the extra time and effort,” Ankrum said. “Like some other schools might not practice as much, but we practice consistently. We don’t really give up on it.”

For Tracy’s other CDE competing teams, Ag Mechanics placed 11th, Companion Animal Science came in 12th, Farm Business Management finished in 19th, and the Best Informed Greenhand team took 25th. The Forestry, Dairy Cattle Evaluation, and Fish and Wildlife teams rounded out Tracy’s CDE competitions, finishing in 28th, 39th and 42nd, respectively.

Being this was Tracy FFA’s largest group yet to attend the state convention, 71 total students qualified for state through the CDE’s, state degrees, proficiencies, choir and foundation ambassadors.

“Not everyone gets to experience that … A lot of people are in FFA. We are a small school, but we have a lot of kids in FFA,” Nolan Verlinde said. “Like 70 kids went to state. Everyone likes FFA.”

“It was definitely a really big group, and it was fun to have that many people along,” Lightfoot added. “When we have a good chunk of the school with you, at the convention, it just shows how much our schools are involved.”

The state convention took place on April 20-21 in the Twin Cities, and the 99th National Convention is scheduled for Oct. 21-24 in Indianapolis.

“We’re excited to represent Minnesota, but more importantly, representing Tracy on the national stage,” coach Knott said. “Theres not a lot of FFA-ers that get a chance to compete in a national contest like this … FFA is once a lifetime, because once you win Minnesota, you got to start over with a new team. So truly, a once in a lifetime opportunity for these guys to put Minnesota and Tracy on the national stage.”

Photo submitted by Elizabeth Rupp: The Tracy FFA Soils team placed seventh at the 2026 state convention, and consisted of Luke Millman, Jaxter Pfarr, Christian Fransen, Levi Duscher and Owen Beier, and is coached by Paul Skoglund.

Photo submitted by Elizabeth Rupp: The Tracy FFA Milk Quality team placed eighth at the 2026 state convention, and consisted of Nolan Carlson, Taylor Squires, Cohen Radke, Avaya Sagmoe, and Ethan Schreier.

Photo submitted by Elizabeth Rupp: The Tracy FFA Poultry Evaluation team placed ninth at the 2026 state convention, and consisted of Elsie Knott, Caroline Lanoue, Sam Lightfoot, Ava Lightfoot and Shelby Knott, and was coached by John Lanoue.

Photo submitted by Elizabeth Rupp: The Tracy Area FFA chapter had its largest group yet to attend the state convention, with 71 total students.