TEMPLE, Texas — The Temple High School Pitmasters BBQ Team closed out the season in style by finishing in fifth place overall and placing in three individual categories at the National High School BBQ Association’s National Championships on Wednesday (June 10).
The Pitmasters placed in ribeye steak, chicken, and pork shoulder to claim fifth place overall out of 75 teams representing 10 different states at the competition. Temple High School won reserve grand champion honors as the second-place finisher in the ribeye steak category. The Pitmasters also added a fifth-place finish in chicken and earned an 11th-place finish in pork shoulder. Teams also competed in ribs, grilled cheese and Dutch oven upside down cake dessert with a cumulative score determining overall finishes. The Pitmasters qualified for the national competition after finishing third out of 110 teams at the State Championship in Burnet in May. The National Championship, known as “The Slab”, was held on Tuesday in The Colony and awards were announced during an event-closing ceremony on Wednesday (June 10).
The Temple High School team is coached by Temple alum Joe Medrano and his wife, Allison. The five-person team is made up of senior Alex Mungia, juniors Hunter Frank and Travis Scantling, sophomore Colton McKenney, and freshman Maxwell Morrison. Each team member is responsible for a specific food item that must be turned in on a very specific timeline during each competition. Mungia is in charge of the upside-down Dutch oven cake dessert, Frank oversees the grilled cheese, Scantling handles the ribeye steaks, McKenney is the chicken specialist, and Morrison takes the lead with the ribs. The pork shoulder competition was added for the National Championship, presenting a new challenge. All five of the team members had a hand in preparing the pork and also helped each other with the other items during the competition.
“It is very rewarding for me to be able to give them something that they can use later in life,” Joe Medrano said. “To see them excel and buy in to what we were doing has been so rewarding. They asked questions, they listened, they had some doubts, but they were so intent on performing well and learning. I love our Temple kids and I’m not sure they realize how hard it is to be successful at this level because it is so subjective.”
“It feels unreal and a little strange because I wasn’t sure we could even get there,” Mungia said. “We did though, and I am really happy.”
“It feels pretty good, especially since I didn’t do as well at state as I would have liked,” Scantling added. “To make the kind of jump I did at nationals feels really good. I’ve also really enjoyed hanging out, having fun, and everything we have been able to learn with this team this year.”
The trophies and top finishes also represent the result of hours of hard work from the team members. The students and coaches sacrificed hours on weekends, practicing in the Medrano’s driveway to prepare for competition. The team members also say the experiences have produced rewards that go beyond the hardware they earned this week.
“Getting to meet new people and getting to know how to deal with new personalities,” Mungia said. “Those are going to help me in the real world. Just having a great time overall. I remember going to state and setting up the trailer and just how much fun that whole day was.”
It also took time for them to come together as a team this year, but while they are celebrating the success they had this season, some team members are already looking forward to next year.
“I am already thinking about next year and getting back to nationals,” Scantling said. “We would get to go to Oklahoma and have a chance to win that elusive national champion title that we have been chasing.”
All five members of the Pitmasters were new to the team this year. Only two students showed up for the initial team meeting before word spread across campus, and the current group was recruited. The team pulled together quickly once the five members were in place and qualified for the state cookoff in the fall. They continued to practice and compete on weekends to prepare for the state contest, and that hard work led to a third-place finish at state and a category state championship in chicken.
“There has just been exponential growth, not only in the way that they have formed a team and developed friendships,” said Allison Medrano. “But also in their skills and the time and attention they have put into this. It is a life skill that they can continue to use, and they have done so well. We appreciate the support of everyone who has helped us, cheered us on, and allowed us to compete at this level. These kids have put in so much time and effort.”
“What they’ve done is really hard, to spend eight hours standing by a pit every Sunday cooking the same this is not easy to do,” Joe Medrano said. “There were times I could see they were really tired, but they fought through it and absorbed everything. To go from never having lit a pit to walking across the stage at nationals is amazing. I am just so proud of them. This is a memory I have been able to create with them, and I will never forget it, as long as I live. If I never win another cookoff myself, my heart is full, because of what this group has been able to accomplish.”
This is the second time the Pitmasters have posted a top five team finish at the National Cookoff. The inaugural Temple Pitmasters Team took second place to win reserve grand champion honors at the 2023 National Championship. Temple High School was also the defending national champion in pork shoulder. The Pitmasters compete as part of the National High School BBQ Association and also represent Temple High School Career and Technical Education.