By BEN KLEINE

Staff writer

There weren’t a lot of young contestants in the antique tractor pull Friday at the Marion County Fair and there were few female competitors.

That situation definitely puts 19-year-old future cosmetology student Olivia Regier in a stark minority.

Her tractor pulling contemporaries may have doubted Regier’s skills even before she hopped on top of her purple, Kansas State inspired, Marshal tractor, sporting shorts and neon green flip-flops.

“People don’t take me seriously as a farm girl,” Regier said.

She has them right where she wants them.

Regier has competed in tractor-pulling competitions since she was 11 years old and she has competed in national competitions since she was 13. With her first pull on Friday, she hauled a weighted trailer 81.75 feet, the second longest pull at the time.

Tractor pulling is a Regier family activity. Her father collects antique tractors and, as a young girl, Regier would watch him compete, longing to be out there herself. Her father, mother, and brother all compete or used to compete in tractor pulling.

“We’re so busy that we don’t get to do a lot of stuff together,” she said. “It’s the one time to be a family.”

Although tractor pulling is a fun family activity, Regier competes to win. She especially hates losing to her brother who has only been pulling for the past couple of years.

More than winning, Regier is out to prove that tractor pulling isn’t just for men.

“A lot of people think I’m nice and that I don’t know how to drive a tractor,” she said. “I’m out here to show girls that they can pull too.”

Regier went to Goessel Elementary and High School through the eighth grade and then graduated from Berean Academy High School. She currently lives in Canton.