Three Blinn sophomores named livestock judging All-Americans

Lane Hogan, Grant Kubala, Owen Seidenberger earn honors from Junior College Coaches Association

April 17, 2025

Three members of the Blinn College livestock judging team have earned All-America honors for the 2024-25 season.

Lane Hogan, Grant Kubala, and Owen Seidenberger were named All-Americans by the Junior College Coaches Association. Selections are based on criteria that include cumulative grade point averages and performances at national livestock judging contests.

Blinn finished the 2024-25 season ranked fifth nationally by livestockjudging.com. Blinn has placed in the top five for more than a decade.

Hogan, Kubala, and Seidenberger will move on to four-year universities with livestock judging scholarships in hand – Kubala and Hogan to Texas A&M University and Seidenberger to Texas Tech University.

“Lane, Owen, and Grant are driven, hardworking, and never backed down from a challenge,” said coach Adrian Austin. “These are the kind of students who we know will go on to be successful in whatever they pursue, and we are proud to have them represent Blinn.”

All three said that earning All-American honors was a personal goal. For Seidenberger, that dream began years ago.

“My mom has a little piece of paper from when I was like in fifth grade,” he said. “It showed the things I wanted to do, and No. 1 was to judge collegiately and become an All-American,” he said. “So it’s kind of cool. Full circle.”

Hogan, from Sterling City in West Texas, also began livestock judging at a young age, guided by his local county Extension agent.

“I started judging in third grade,” he said. “My county agent introduced me to it, and I credit everything I’ve done to him. He told me it would get me to college.”

Kubala, a native of Schulenburg in Fayette County, was familiar with Blinn through participation in the college's livestock judging camps.

“I knew if I ever wanted to judge in college, it would be at Blinn,” he said. “This is home for me.”

Though Hogan and Seidenberger competed against each other in high school, they became teammates at Blinn, forming strong friendships along the way.

“We were kind of rivals in high school,” Seidenberger said. “We judged against each other. Now we’re on the same team.”

All three credited Austin and Newberry for their success this season.

“They’re so dedicated,” Hogan said. “They’re willing to put in just as much work as we do – and more.”

“Coming in, I knew I needed experience in reasons (one of the judging categories). As soon as I stepped through the door, my reason scores went up,” Seidenberger said. “I credit Quest and Adrian.”

Each plans to pursue a career in agriculture: Kubala will major in animal science with a nutrition focus, Seidenberger aims to become a crop consultant, and Hogan plans to earn a master’s degree and pursue coaching in livestock judging.

They say their time at Blinn has been memorable.

“If I could start it all again, I’d do it in a heartbeat,” Kubala said.

Livestock judging is part of Blinn’s Agricultural Sciences Program, which has one of the most active extracurricular programs in the state, including the Agriculture Club, wildlife, agriculture mechanics, and horticulture.

Blinn offers agriculture classes on all its campuses, with the W.J. “Bill” Rankin Agricultural Complex on the Brenham Campus serving as the program’s headquarters.

For more information, visit www.blinn.edu/agricultural-sciences.