Hunting Beagle championship brings 120 dogs from 6 states to Mannington

May 11—MANNINGTON — Mannington simply went to the dogs last weekend.

Hough Park hosted the West Virginia State Championship of the United Kennel Club Hunting Beagle Program in which 120 dogs from six states competed.

The competition in Mannington is the largest UKC competition in the country, according to Josh Ware, who helped coordinate the event. The competition is hosted annually by the Tri-County Beagle Club and the Marion County Commission provides annual funding.

The competition consists of a hunt challenge where beagles charge at a rabbit without hurting the animal and the fastest dog wins. The second part is a bench show competition where beagles are ranked on how well they look.

Jennifer Moore, who helps plan the tournament, said the weekend went great.

"Aside from friendly competition with our dogs, most people in the sport enjoy going to the larger hunts to catch up with their 'beagle family' that they only see a handful of times a year because they live in other states," Moore said.

Ware said the main reason Mannington is able to host the largest competition is because of the amount of prize money given away. It is larger than other participating states, with first place winning $1,500.

"It's all made possible by the Marion County Commission, to be honest with you. They're our biggest sponsor; they've sponsored us for close to 10 years now. They typically donate $2,500 a year to us. We give all that back to the winners today," Ware said.

A big part of the organization is providing a $1,500 scholarship to youth competitors when they turn 18 years old and graduate high school. The scholarship is awarded to any youth member who participates in the tournament. Member under the age of 18 can compete to win special prizes in the youth division, Ware said.

By the first competition on Saturday, nine year old Raiden Katonka had won his first competition. He's been involved in the organization nearly his entire life and competed in the beagle hunt several times. He competed with his 12 month old beagle, Daisy. Katonka said training consisted of taking Daisy into the woods where she would stay by his side.

"I like competing because it's something where I get to go out and have fun," Katonka said.

After the first round of races, which consists of three groups of 40 dogs, the winners moved on to a semi-final round. Then, the Top 12 dogs competed and the final three competed Sunday afternoon at Steve Moore's farm in Mannington.

Katonka said he is looking forward to his next competition.

"I'm just trying to get 'er done again," he said.

By the end of the day on Sunday, Katonka was competing in the final tournament, with 15 year old Eli Watson and Matt McCallister. Katonka took first place, Watson took second and McCallister took third.

Moore is Katonka's grandmother and said he was so happy to have won.

"As you can imagine, he was thrilled! At nine, he takes this sport extremely seriously. He does well at understanding the rules, "striking" his dog or telling the judge to put his dog on the card for barking on a rabbits track and calling a line when he sees a rabbit cross that they can score their dogs on, among other things," Moore said.

She added that Katonka called a friend who helped him hunt and was thankful to his grandfather Jay Moore, who also helps plan the tournament.

"The very first thing he wanted to do after winning was call his buddy, John Hill. He is a man that we hunt with in another county in WV. He couldn't have done it without his Pappy Jay, though, who puts in his time traveling around the eastern United States taking him to the hunts. Jay quit competing in the hunts himself and just takes Raiden and lets him 'handle' whichever dog he wants. He enjoys watching him do what he loves," Moore said.

Ware and former Marion County Commissioner Randy Elliott said they were thankful to the participants. They said the event is good for bringing folks to Mannington.

"We typically have between eight and 10 states represented here. So, we bring people in. They eat at restaurants and stay in hotels," Ware said.

"They buy food, gasoline, they stay here and it's nice to have them here," Elliott added.

Ware said he was thankful to have the event sponsored by the county commission again.

"We're just thankful to the Marion County Commission, they step up every year and they make this event possible," Ware said.

Reach me at sshriver@timeswv.com or 304-367-2549.