Andrew Stith of Oakville recently topped the competition from 23 Dierbergs Family Markets to become the St. Louis area’s Best Bagger and qualify for a spot in the State Championship Saturday, Aug. 4, at Lake of the Ozarks.

For the 17-year-old Stith, it was his second chance at the top honors. His first came last year, just three weeks after he went to work for the grocery chain that traces its roots to a country store formed in 1854.

“I worked pretty hard to train for the Dierbergs’ competition,” he said of last year’s event. “I came up a little short. On the way back home, we were kind of bummed, but I said next year we’d take first.”

Bob Knierim, Dierbergs Telegraph store director, was on the ride home with Stith from last year’s competition.

“As we left the competition last year, he told me he was going to take it all next year,” Knierim stated in a news release. “He was good on his word.”

Dierbergs bagger Jason Zitko beat Stith last year and went on to claim the national title.

Stith, who will be a senior at Oakville Senior High School, wants to attend the University of Kansas or Kansas State to study architecture.

“My stepfather is an architect also, so he gives me a little insight on how he’s doing on the job,” Stith said.

Stith has proven his ability to focus on goals. Earlier this year, he declined a promotion to a position with the salad bar because it would disqualify him from the Best Bagger competition.

This year, he was in Germany on a class trip until the day before the competition, which took place at Marquette High School.

The flight from Germany returned to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport at 9:30 p.m. By 11 p.m., Stith was at the Telegraph store practicing.

Competing against 22 fellow baggers, one from each of the Dierbergs stores, baggers were judged on speed, bag-building technique, number of bags used, weight distribution, attitude and appearance.

Greg Dierberg, Dierbergs president and chief executive officer, calls his baggers courtesy clerks.

“The courtesy clerk is one of the most valuable customer service positions in our company,” Dierberg stated in the release. “The Best Bagger contest is a great way of recognizing and proving their efforts.”

Stith calls it an “interesting job. I like seeing everybody. It’s nice to say hi to your friends once in a while, especially over the summer.”

The winner of the state competition will qualify for the national competition, which will take place Feb. 4 in Las Vegas, Nev.

“All expenses paid,” Stith said. “That’d be very nice.”