KEARNEY, Neb. (KOLN) – Nebraska’s auctioneers battled on stage at the 43rd annual Bid-Calling/Ringman competition in Kearney. The event, organized by the Nebraska Auctioneers Association, was held in conjunction with the 78th annual Nebraska Auctioneers Association Convention, which ran from April 23-25.

Nebraska is known in the auctioneering industry for producing many national and world champions.

Weston Hottell, 17, from Kimball, competed against other auctioneers at the contest.

“As a kid in Nebraska, there’s not much to do, so you spend enough time around sale barns and I’ve always liked to talk, figured I might as well get paid to do it,” Hottell said.

After going to school to become an auctioneer, Hottell opened his own auction company, Hottell Auctions, last September.

Brant Pavel, an auctioneer from Chambers, said Nebraska has a strong reputation in the industry.

“I believe at one point, Nebraska had the most world champion auctioneers of any state,” Pavel said.

Clay Schaardt, vice president of the Nebraska Auctioneers Association, said competitors are judged on multiple criteria.

“The auction competitors are judged on speed, rhythm, and clarity of their chant. They’re also judged on their appearance,” Schaardt said.

The competition featured five bid-calling participants and 12 ringman participants.

During the first round, the crowd bids from the seats and watches the auctioneers provide two items to sell. The association provides the third item. After the top 10 are selected, the rest are sequestered while they each answer two questions about auctioneering.

William Yokel, an auctioneer from Friend, said the interview portion is critical. One of the questions was, “In your opinion, what is the difference between a good auctioneer and a great one?”

In response, Yokel said, “integrity” makes all the difference.

“Doing the auction chant, only 5% of the job. And the other 95%, it’s, do you know what item you’re selling? Do you know who you’re working for?” Yokel said.

After the interview portion, Pavel said the ringman competition adds to the experience.

“It makes you want to bid again when somebody looks at you and say, you’re out. Peer pressure, it gets you, it gets me,” Pavel said.

Schaardt said this sense of urgency is felt more intensely during live auctions.

“There are a lot of online auctions and more and more the online auction world has really taken off. And I would say a lot of our members use online auctions,” Schaardt said.

But Schaardt said the traditional auction format still has value.

“For example, there’s a lot of emotion connected to real estate and you cannot- you really can’t get that emotion out, you know, if you’re doing it online only,” Schaardt said.

At the end of the competition, Hottell was crowned rookie of the year, Pavel won the ringman competition and Yokel won the bid-calling contest.

“The auction chant made me smile and I just said to myself one day that I’m going to make people smile just like they did to me and here we are,” Yokel said.

Kaden Schow of Schow Auction Service/Schow Realty in Paxton was named reserve champion auctioneer. Jace McKay of JW Auctions in Ericson was named runner-up auctioneer.

The top 10 finalists were Mike Harris, Westen Hottell, Jace McKay, Jacob Ogan, Clay Patton, Brant Pavel, Randall Pelster, Jim Pursell, Kaden Schow and William Yokel.

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North Dakota State’s draft success continued this year, and there could be more to come in 2027.

While NDSU boasts 16 draft picks since 2004 as a Division I program, the Bison faced sobering news regarding the final draft numbers this year amid a move up to the FBS. Only 13 Group of Six players had their names called compared to 239 players from the Power Four conferences, which college football analyst Chris Hummer broke down.

NDSU had two picks this year, the most of any Mountain West Conference team. The FCS, where the Bison just left, only had four overall — counting quarterback Cole Payton and wide receiver Bryce Lance from NDSU.

“It’s yet another example of the talent drain for the G6 and FCS due to the transfer portal,” Hummer wrote via X.

NDSU moving to the FBS may not slow down losing players in the transfer portal. Just ask around the Mountain West, where 138 players have departed since late 2025.

That most notably included former UNLV quarterback Anthony Colandrea, who transferred to Nebraska. NDSU lost six starters, and the majority went to Power Four schools.

Former Bison players lost include Colorado defensive end Toby Anene, Vanderbilt left tackle Beau Johnson, Florida State long snapper Caleb Bowers, Michigan State center Trent Farley and Iowa kicker Eli Ozick. Bigger competition and NIL money continue to be the draw for Power Four teams, and NDSU may not become an exception among G6 teams losing players.

How the Top G6 Teams Fared With The Transfer Portal

Former Bison FCS rival and College Football Playoff participant James Madison, one of the top G6 teams around, lost more than 11 starters this year.

Many of the JMU Players, except for Colorado edge Immanuel Ezeogu, transferred to UCLA, following former Dukes head coach Bob Chesney to Los Angeles. That’s not the first time JMU has experienced an exodus of players with a head coach. It happened with Curt Cignetti when he left JMU for Indiana, and he built a national championship team that had numerous former Dukes standouts.

Tulane, also a G6 CFP participant, lost 26 players. That included major key players such as Indiana wide receiver Shazz Preston, Tennessee running back Javin Gordon and Louisville tight end Justyn Reid.

Boise State, last year’s Mountain West champion and a 2024 CFP entrant, lost numerous key players from the 2025 team. That includes LSU safety Ty Benefield and Arkansas wide receiver Chris Marshall.

NDSU Has Gained in Transfer Portal

While the exodus of G6 players doesn’t look favorable, the Bison have gained three Power Four players since the FBS move.

Former Arizona wide receiver Jeremiah Patterson and former West Virginia wideout Jordan McCants both joined the team in the past month. Most recently, the Bison landed former Notre Dame cornerback Chance Tucker.

That’s not entirely new for the Bison, which even landed Power Four quarterbacks with starting experience during the FCS dynasty. Former Iowa State quarterback Zeb Noland and former Virginia Tech quarterback Quincy Patterson II both started games for the Bison after transferring. However, neither reached the level of success as the five former home-grown starters who landed in the NFL draft over the past decade.

Matthew Davis covers the NFL, WNBA and college sports for Heavy.com. As a contributing writer to the StarTribune, he has also covered Minnesota prep sports since 2016. More about Matthew Davis

Hamilton County has two judicial primaries this Election Day, including one that prompted an endorsement from Afroman, an Ohio-based rapper.

Incumbent Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Judge Chris Wagner will face defense lawyer Bill Gallagher on May 5. There is no Republican challenger, so the winner of the primary will serve as judge.

Wagner was first elected to the bench in 2020, defeating Republican former judge Curt Hartman with 58% of the vote, according to the Hamilton County Board of Elections. He cited jury service reform as one of his achievements on his campaign website and said jurors now serve half the number of days that they used to, and their pay has been increased.

He has been endorsed by the Hamilton County Democratic Party, Commissioner Denise Driehaus and Prosecutor Connie Pillich, among other county and city officials. Wagner was also endorsed by Clyde Bennett, a high-profile defense lawyer who’s represented former judge Tracie Hunter and more recently Rodney Hinton, who is charged with killing a Hamilton County sheriff’s deputy.