CASSOPOLIS — Ashley Rogers’ face lit up when the judge chose her hog, Ferrari, as Grand Champion Gilt Tuesday at the Cass County Fair.

The 19-year-old Niles woman immediately turned to the stands, where she saw her mother tearing up. Rogers started crying, too.

“I’ll always remember this,” said Rogers, a member of the Country Trailblazers 4-H Club. “It feels good to see all the hard work pay off.”

Ferrari went on the finish as Reserve Grand Champion Market Hog behind Cassopolis 17-year-old Jeremiah Hartsell’s grand champion.

It was Rogers’ best finish in 12 years of showing pigs.

“With the help of everybody, and a lot of luck, everything just happened to work out,” she said. “Our leaders are great, and they definitely made it possible.”

Rogers is attending Michigan State University. She graduated from Niles High School in 2012

This is her final year of eligibility at the fair.

“I’ll miss having animals and hanging out in the barns with all my friends,” she said. “I bet we’ll all come back next year and wish we were out in the show ring.”

As for her hog’s name, Ferrari, Rogers said she named all of her fair animals after cars.

She has another pig named Porsche, lambs named Audi and Bentley, dairy feeder steers named Royce and Benz and ducks named Lamborghini and Maserati.