Maryland Soil Judgers Win Impressive Victory!
On October 16-17, the University of Maryland won a compelling victory in the Northeast Regional soil judging contest. Nine (9) members of the team are ENSP majors (see photo below).
Maryland entered three teams to a field of thirteen, which came from seven colleges and universities: Delaware Valley College, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Maine, University of Rhode Island, and Wilmington College of Ohio. The contest was hosted by the Ohio State University and held in Columbus, OH. It was cold and rainy the week of practice and competition, but the team persevered! The practice and contest pits featured an assortment of soils formed in glacial parent materials, including Mollisols, Alfisols, and Inceptisols.
Maryland placed three students among the top four in the individual competition in which contestants examined soils at three sites (Matthew Bright – 1st, Anastasia Vinnikova – 2nd, Hanna Poffenbarger – 4th). Additionally, all three Maryland teams finished in the top five in the group judging event (UMD-B 2nd, UMD-C 3rd, UMD-A 5th). The combined individual/team rankings put the University of Maryland in 1st place followed by Wilmington College (2nd) and the University of Rhode Island (3rd). Accordingly, these three schools will represent the Northeast Region in the National Collegiate Soil Judging contest to be held in March 2010 at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX.
To join the team, students take ENST 200, following which they enroll in ENST 308 and attend weekly soil judging practices. After a year of ENST 308, most students continue for the love of soils (no credit awarded)! This year's team is:
Back Row: Matthew Bright (1st place individual); Gwendolyn Davies; Kristin Ricigliano; Christopher Felix; Philip Clements; Rebecca Mead; Hanna Poffenbarger (4th place individual); Anastasia Vinnikova (2nd place individual); Martin Rabenhorst (Coach); Brian Campbell. Front Row: Michelle Hetu (Assistant Coach); My Nguyen; Andrew Sailo.
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