SAN ANTONIO – A local high school barbecue team is preparing their rubs, sauces and meat ahead of the national high school barbecue championship.
“We are preparing for the national championship next week in Austin at the Kalahari resort and it’s so excited and also scary because we are not only going against Texas teams, but it’s the national championship so it’s everybody,” said Gracie Kerns, Student at Madison High School.
Kerns is one of the students part of the team “Smokey and the Bandits” which started practicing for competition Friday at 8 am at the high school campus.
“What we are preparing right now is we have our half chicken, we have our pork butt, we have our fajitas and we put it in this marinade. Kendall is prepping our ribs right now,” Kerns said.
Kerns says it’s all about patience and teamwork. She is excited to connect with students from other schools.
“That’s always so fun at competition to meet new people. Because these competitions we are making friends five, six hours away that we only see at barbecues so being at a national championship, meeting people from like Missouri and Kansas that’s going to be an awesome experience,” Kerns said.
The competition will be held Monday, June 19 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Texas State Technical College in Hutto, Texas.