Agronomy’s Crops, Weeds, and Soils Judging Teams have enjoyed many years of competitive successes. Since last summer, there have been another round of notable achievements by our students!
Weed Science Team Succeeds in 2017 Regional Contest
Kansas State University’s Weed Science teams had a successful showing against eight other universities at the regional North Central Weed Science Society Collegiate Weed Contest held on July 27, 2017.
A total of 80 undergraduate and graduate students competed in the competition hosted by Iowa State University at its Field Extension Education Laboratory near Ames, Iowa.
Two undergraduate teams and one graduate team represented K-State. One of the undergraduate teams took first place among all undergraduate teams. Members of that team (all from Kansas) included: Keren Duerksen, junior from Newton; Nicole Sudbeck, senior from Seneca; and Sarah Zerger, senior from Cheney.
Sudbeck took 1st Overall Undergraduate Score in the individual awards. Sudbeck was also the individual event winner for written calibration problems and Duerksen was the individual event winner for identification of herbicide symptomology. The team also placed 1st in the Undergraduate Team Sprayer Calibration Event.
Members of the second undergraduate team (all from Kansas) were Jace Bowen, junior from Topeka; Trent Frye, senior from Belleville; and Peter Bergkamp, sophomore from Cheney.
K-State also had the 3rd place Graduate Team among all graduate student teams, with the following members: Jeffrey Albers, Oakley; Garrison Gundy, Halstead; Larry Joe Rains, Harrisonville, Missouri; and Nathaniel Thompson, Manhattan. Albers won the Farmer Problem solving event. All were from Kansas except Rains.
Coaches were Anita Dille, Kevin Donnelly, and Dallas Peterson, professors of agronomy.
Crops Team wins 2017 National Championship
The Kansas State University Crops Team achieved the title of national champions by winning both the Kansas City American Royal Collegiate Crops Contest on Nov. 14 and the Chicago Collegiate Crops Contest on Nov. 18. K-State teams have now won the collegiate crops contest championship in fifteen of the past nineteen years. This was the ninth straight win for K-State in the Chicago contest, surpassing the previous record of eight set by the University of Minnesota from 1969-1976.
Official members of the K-State team were Keren Duerksen, Newton, junior in agronomy, Kaylin Fink, Chapman, junior in agronomy, and Nathan Ryan, Louisburg, MO, sophomore in agronomy. Alternate contestants were agronomy majors Rebecca Zach, Morrowville, sophomore, Westley Jennings, Salina, sophomore, Tyler Marr, Formosa, senior, Trent Frye, Belleville, senior, and Noah Winans, Tekonsha, MI, sophomore.
In both contests, the K-State team took first place in the plant and seed identification phase of the contest and placed second in seed analysis. In grain grading, they were first at Chicago and second at Kansas City. At Chicago, Keren Duerksen was the first place individual overall. Kaylin Fink finished in third place overall, and Nathan Ryan was fifth overall. At Kansas City, Nathan Ryan was the top individual overall, where he won the grain grading component with a perfect score. Keren Duerksen was the second place individual overall, and Kaylin Fink placed fifth overall.
The team was coached by Kevin Donnelly, K-State professor of agronomy. Sarah Zerger, agronomy senior from Cheney, was the assistant coach.
In the contests, participants are required to identify 200 different plant or seed samples of crops and weeds; grade eight different samples of grain according to Federal Grain Inspection Service standards; and analyze ten seed samples to determine what contaminants they contain.
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