He was third in 2025. This year Suton Paulson won the Michael Heath Overall Fitter Award and ended Pennsylvania’s two-year hold on it. Seven of the 20 top-five fitters had placed top five here before.
MADISON, Wis. — Suton Paulson has been knocking on this door for a while. Agri-View pictured him with the 2023 senior male division winners. He placed third in the division last fall. On Saturday, Sept. 26, the Illinois fitter won senior male and then the Michael Heath Overall Fitter Award, the top prize at the World Dairy Expo Youth Fitting Contest.
The award comes with a plaque, a custom embroidered jacket and a $1,000 check. It’s also the first time the award has gone to a fitter from outside Pennsylvania. Kyle Welk of Peach Bottom won the first one in 2024. Wesley Brantner of Oxford won in 2025. All three winners came out of the senior male division.
Heath died suddenly in March 2023, and his friends set up the award to honour a man known for mentoring young fitters. That fall, Savannah Crack of Quebec won the overall top fitter title and a $500 award in his memory. The $1,000 award under his name started in 2024. Our 2025 profile of Kyle Welk follows the first winner from the fitting contest to the Merle Howard Award.
The rules. Clippers started at 7:30 a.m. in the Sale Pavilion, three days before the Expo opens. Contestants aged 13 to 21 bring a heifer from the grounds and get one hour to have her ready to show. Only heads and legs up to the knees and hocks can be clipped beforehand. Judges look at how the topline and belly hair blend, body clipping, clipper and blower technique, and use of adhesives and sprays. Sean Lynch of Walworth, Wis., judged the intermediate divisions. Madison Fisher of Frostburg, Md., judged the seniors.
The ladder
| Fitter | 2024 WDE | 2025 WDE | 2026 WDE |
| Suton Paulson, IL | — | 3rd senior male | 1st senior male, overall winner |
| Payton Calvert, WI | 3rd senior male | 2nd senior male | 2nd senior male |
| Benny Uhe, WI | 4th intermediate male | 2nd intermediate male | 1st intermediate male |
| Kayla Visser, MN | 5th senior female | 5th senior female | 2nd senior female |
| Kamrie Mauer, MN | 2nd intermediate female | 2nd intermediate female | 4th senior female |
| Olivia VanEvera, NY | — | 1st intermediate female | 3rd senior female |
| Hailey Kinney, IL | — | 5th intermediate female | 4th intermediate female |
Sources: WDE 2024 release, WDE 2025 results, 2026 results.
Seven of the 20 top-five finishers this year had placed top five here in 2024 or 2025. Payton Calvert of Cuba City has gone 3rd, 2nd, 2nd. That’s three straight years in the top three of the deepest division without the win. Benny Uhe went 4th, 2nd, 1st, and you won’t see a cleaner climb.
Senior female went the other way. Three returning finishers (Visser, VanEvera, Mauer) all placed, and none of them won. Morgan Smoker did, less than two weeks after placing third in the senior division at the All-American Dairy Show in Harrisburg.
Harrisburg was the preview
Karlie Supplee of Chambersburg, Pa., won the intermediate division at the All-American this month, then won intermediate female in Madison. Owen Kimball of Geneseo, N.Y., was second at both. With Smoker, that makes three fitters in the top five at both contests. The two shows don’t line up exactly: the All-American’s divisions are mixed boys and girls, and they split at different ages (12–15 and 16–21). So treat Harrisburg as a scouting report, not a forecast.
William Zimmerman is the other name to watch. He won Supreme Showman at WDE last year and placed third in intermediate male fitting this year. It’s rare to see one kid near the top of both the halter and the clipper contests.[2][4]
What to do with this: if you’re building a fitting crew for spring shows, the names that repeat on this list are your shortlist.
2026 WDE Youth Fitting Contest results
Michael Heath Memorial Overall Fitter: Suton Paulson, IL
| Place | Intermediate female | Intermediate male | Senior female | Senior male |
| 1 | Karlie Supplee, PA | Benny Uhe, WI | Morgan Smoker, PA | Suton Paulson, IL |
| 2 | Emily Nooyen, WI | Owen Kimball, NY | Kayla Visser, MN | Payton Calvert, WI |
| 3 | Abigail Yoder, IL* | William Zimmerman, WI | Olivia VanEvera, NY | Matthew Winch, WI |
| 4 | Hailey Kinney, IL | Colt Buckley, KY | Kamrie Mauer, MN | William Sadler, IA |
| 5 | Sevanna Fairbank, WI | Zachary Danhof, IA | Laylaa Schuler, WI* | Zach Dasilva, OH* |
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