"Retriever owned by Howards Grove couple takes national title" by Kurt Mueller The Sheboygan Press, Sunday July 8, 2001 In sports, a national champions is a coveted dream. For Jim and Judy Powers of Howards Grove the dream became reality when their black Labrador retriever, Candlewoods Ramlin Man, was declared the winner of the 2001 National Amateur Retriever Trial on June 23 in Virginia, Minnesota. Thirty years of field trialing, five field champion Labradors which they have owned and run, but at last a national champion. Jim said he never would have guessed that this national champ would turn out to be Ram, a 7-year-old Lab whose muzzle is already streaked with gray. But Ram's trainer, Michael Lardy of Montello, said Ram's marking ability is exceptional. "He's right up there with all of the great dogs that I've had," he said. Lardy dogs have now won four consecutive national amateur titles and seven of the contests since 1990. Jim called Ram's win "extremely gratifying," an accomplishment the Powers have sought all of their field trial lives, and that goes back to the early 1970s. A national is a week-long affair, day after day of grueling tests. And after each test, some contestants are eliminated. Jim said Ram had a couple of shaky moments on a third series water blind, but on a do-or-die cast off a distant point of land, Ram took the right direction and continued on to the hidden duck. Then in test after test, Ram excelled in his marking, making great finds on every bird that he saw fall. When it came to the 10th and final series, only 14 contestants remained, and Jim said the test, a very difficult quadruple mark, was a tie-breaker with six or seven dogs still in contention for the blue ribbon. Judy, by than a nervous wreck in the gallery as she watched Jim put Ram through the paces described the test. "It was a rooster (pheasant) flyer to the left at about 220 yards and retired (meaning the gunners hide after shooting the bird), then a dead duck thrown to the base of a mound at 100 yards and retired, then another flyer rooster at 150-175 yards and finally a shot duck at 50 yards," she said. The test saw the making of a national champion as Ram, as they say in the sport, "put his head on the marks," clearly outmarking the remaining contenders. That's when Jim told Judy he thought they might have a chance to win and she replied, "Don't even think it." Hours later, amidst a cocktail party where 150 field trialers hung in abeyance, the winner was announced. The Powers could now "think it." "I've seen Jim cry twice, once when Magnum died and then when Ram was announced the winner," Judy said. As Jim if Ram is the best of his five field champion Labs, and his eyes drift into thought. He talks of Magnum, but also of Sport, FC/AFC Candelwoods Sporting Chance, a Lab co-owned by the Powers and by Jim and Chris Van Engen of Sheboygan Falls. Van Engen is a professional retriever trainer. Sport had amassed 146 all age points and taken Powers to the nationals eight times. They emerged twice as finalists. But it was Ram that earned the high glory. The Powers bought Ram for $7500 in 1995 as a 1 _ year old trial prospect. Ram was first co-owned by Van Engen and Eric Pashley, also of Sheboygan Falls. Ram had a dozen Derby points (in young dog competition ) when the Powers got him, and went on to an impressive Derby career totaling 32 points. Winning a national couldn't have been a better retirement gift for the Powers as both Jim and Judy left behind long careers at Lakeshore Technical College at the end of June. For Judy, it was 29 years in administration; for Jim, 20 years, going from instructor to associate dean of business and marketing. Though Jim and Ram may have accomplished it all, Jim said he intends to continue field trialing in retirement. And of course, Judy will be right there with him.