SGTC CAT & John Deere students qualify for state SkillsUSA competition

December 9, 2024
Matthew McKendree of Richmond Hill, GA; took first place in the SGTC SkillsUSA local competition.
Matthew McKendree of Richmond Hill, GA; took first place in the SGTC SkillsUSA local competition.

Three South Georgia Technical College Caterpillar Heavy Equipment Dealer’s Service Technology and John Deere Agriculture Technology students competed in the local SkillsUSA competition and qualified to represent their programs at the State SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills competition in Atlanta, February 20 – 22, 2025

   Matthew McKendree of Richmond Hill, Georgia; and Lane Parton of Lincolnton, Georgia; both Caterpillar Heavy Equipment Dealer’s Service Technology students from Yancey Bros. took first and second place in the local competition and Hunter Branch of Leesburg, Georgia; a John Deere Ag Tech student representing Lassiter Tractor in Tifton, GA, finished in third place.

Lane Parton of Lincolnton, GA; finished in second place in the SGTC SkillsUSA competition.

   A total of eight students competed in written and hands-on skills competition to qualify for the opportunity to represent South Georgia Technical College at the state level.  The three John Deere Ag Tech students who competed included:  Colt Henderson of AgPro; Eli Shore of TriGreen Equipment; and Hunter Branch of Lassiter Tractor.  Five Caterpillar Heavy Equipment Dealer’s Service Technician students competed and they included:  Lane Parton, Matthew McKendree and Ryan Roman from Yancey Bros., Walker Whalen of Blanchard Machinery, and Wes Stephens of Thompson Tractor.

Hunter Branch of Leesburg, GA; a John Deere Ag Tech student, finished third in the SGTC local SillsUSA competition.

    The competition was graded on a 270-point scale.  There was only a different of 57.5 points from the first place through the eighth-place finishers and there was only 17 points separating the first, second and third place finishers.

   Judges for the competition included:  Brad Manis of Stowers Equipment, Dale Freyermuth of Dobbs Equipment, David Capps of Carolina CAT, Dwayne Crooker of Blanchard Machinery, Irv Sharp of Carolina Cat, Kevin Human of Stowers Equipment, Kurt Wessels of John Deere, Luke Wachter of Thompson Tractor and Stacy Webb of Puckett Machinery.