set selectedvalue of child dropdown

I have two cascading dropdowns cboCry (country) and cboSta (states) When I populate a record, I want to populate the dropdowns with the appropriate selection.
Here's what I'm doing:
If dt.Rows(0).Item("cry_id").ToString.Length > 0 Then
                    cboCry.SelectedValue = dt.Rows(0).Item("cry_id").ToString
                End If
                If dt.Rows(0).Item("sta_id").ToString.Length > 0 Then
                    cboSta.SelectedValue = dt.Rows(0).Item("sta_id").ToString
         & ...