Contest Day! A pre-dawn wake up on a frosty Nebraska morning was no problem for our high-speed team. We drove north and west out of Lincoln to the contest sites, all with beautiful views of dawn-break over the glaciated uplands of eastern Nebraska. The teams got organized and started the two individual pits, which took most of the morning hours:
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| The Minnesota Formation |
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| Region V schools preparing for the individual pits |
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| Frost on the goldenrods as the contest begins |
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| Individual Pit #1 |
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| Stefan Swenson doing some early morning coloring |
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| Captain Luke Ratgen claims his spot on the spoil pile |
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| Sara Bauer prepping to go into the pit |
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| Mekuria Zemede prepping texture samples |
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| Drea Williams pondering textural classes |
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| Bri Egge deep in clay percentage thought |
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| Hatley Christensen finding the right light for coloring |
After lunch, the teams and coaches packed up and drove north again to the site of the 3 group pits, all on a till upland. Rotations were completed by mid-afternoon and after the contest, the official judges took the students back through the pits in what has now become a Region V tradition, promoting on-site education and discussion.
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| Team picture before afternoon group judging |
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| Minnesota A cranking out some morphology with the "Mekuria motion" |
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| Contemplating horizon boundaries in Team Pit #4 |
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| Minnesota B discussing landforms before entering Team Pit #4 |
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Minnesota A members Luke Ratgen, Stefan Swenson and Allison Harvey
collecting horizon samples. Note that Captain Luke Ratgen is an expert multi-tasker,
eating and describing at the same time! |
The results of the contest will be announced at tomorrow morning's awards breakfast. Although the team is anxious to hear the results, regardless of the outcome of this specific contest the destination has been in the journey. This fall's team is the largest group of soil judgers in school history, many of them Soil Science minors. They can now say they have crossed the Des Moines Lobe till plain, stood on top of the Loess Hills overlooking the Missouri River valley, and discussed soil morphology, genesis and interpretation in both alluvial and pre-Illinoian glacial landscapes of eastern Nebraska. These experiences have changed the way they read landscapes and understand the properties, use and management of our soil resource. They represent a bright future, and they are at one with their textural triangles.
