FOUNDATION FOCUS

by Carrie Horman, ASF Board member

The week of the AJSA National Classic brings a lot of anticipation of something new and what is going to take place, excitement for the old traditions to carry on, and everything in between. The American Simmental-Simbrah Foundation (ASF) had a lot of the same emotions going into the 2024 National Classic with hosting of the 8th Annual Breeders Cup Golf Tournament and 2nd Annual Simmental Sizzle Barbeque Contest. Both events are designed to raise funds for the youth of the Simmental breed for their Merit Scholarships and Leadership Workshop.

Four teams fired up grills and smokers on Wednesday, July 10 for the opportunity to showcase how they could prepare and present a tri-tip roast, shoulder tender, top blade steak, and a dish of their choice for the “I Can’t Believe You Smoked That” category.

Four judges evaluated all categories based on presentation, taste, tenderness, and overall effectiveness of the beef cut, and the freestyle category whether it was a dessert, side dish, or whatever the team had prepared. A People’s Choice vote also took place as teams prepared samples for the audiences to tastetest and vote on their choice of what was the best dish by placing cash in the team’s jar.

A lot of conversations on recipes, how to prepare different cuts of meat, and “oh my that was incredible” chatter took place all day as the teams tended to their secret methods of preparing for turn-in time to the judges.

As the teams turned in their dishes, judges evaluated, and the determination of the winners came to a head, revealing the following winners of each category:

• Shoulder Tender: Matt, Brandi, and Myles Karisch

• Tri-tip Roast: James Maciejewski and Mike Henderson

• Top Blade Steak: James Maciejewski and Mike Henderson

• Open Category: James Maciejewski and Mike Henderson

• Overall Team: James Maciejewski and Mike Henderson

• People’s Choice Award: Thomas and Rashele Lundy and Blake Runner country came together for a little friendly competition of golf strategy, birdies, some cow talk, some trash talk, and a whole lot of laughs had by everyone.

“We’ve never had the chance to golf at the Simmental tournament and we had so much fun,” said Jamie Schaake of Kansas. The course was beautiful and challenging as teams had to pull more tricks out of their hats to make par. The Wonky Winners of Ty Drach, Seth Tucker, and Justin and JW Teets came out on top with a score of 52. We’re all about hanging banners in this business. The Champion team can now hang their banners and hold bragging rights until 2025! Buck Creek Cattle with Jacob Moore, Justin Johnson, Garret Cloud, and Kent Jaecke were our Reserve Champion team by a close score of 54.

Individual contests were set up as the players shot their 18 holes for added fun and competition. The winner of the Longest Drive was awarded to Seth Tucker. Tyler Mackey took home the Longest Putt Champion banner. We had two Closest to the Pin competitions where Bill Skiles won Hole 7 and Craig McCallum won Hole 13.

On Thursday, July 11, the 8th Annual American SimmentalSimbrah Breeders Cup Golf Tournament kicked off at the Hard Rock Casino Golf Course. Twenty-three teams from all over the

Together, the BBQ Contest and Golf Tournament raised over $13,000 to go back to Simmental youth. We could not have done that without the donations of all our sponsors of the events, and cannot say THANK YOU enough for your support and generosity. Make plans for the 2025 AJSA National Classic to be held in Grand Island, Nebraska. Plans are already in the making for the 3nd Annual BBQ Contest and 9th Annual ASF Breeders Cup Golf Tournament. .