On a hot but beautiful Kansas September day, the University of Minnesota Soil Judging Team took 1st place in Group Judging for the 2nd time in 3 years! That achievement is a testament to the strong work ethic, mutual respect, communication and teamwork of our students. This is the 5th time in the 28 year history of Group Judging in Region V that UMN has placed first in group judging. The recent group judging success that our team has is an honor to the legacy of Dr. Terry Cooper, who strongly advocated for group judging in Region V - which was subsequently adopted at the National level.
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| 2018 University of Minnesota Soil Judging Team (1st Place Group Judging): (L-R) Nic Jelinski (Coach), Morgan Fabian, Devon Brodie (Captain), Geneva Nunes, Matt Bluhm, Autumn Boxum, Gabe Benitez, Harley Braun, Will Effertz. |
In a razor thin run for the overall spots at Nationals, unfortunately the team missed qualifying by 1 point out of over 2,300. The overall team score for Minnesota was 2,387. Missouri scored 2,388, and Kansas State scored 2,389. For anybody familiar with Soil Judging or those scoring at home, that is less than one 2pt box and in a roll of the dice it didn't work out for us this year. Although it was difficult to accept, the team is moving forward and looking ahead to future learning opportunities at the 2019 NACTA contest in Murray, Kentucky in April.
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| Does this look like an album cover to anyone? |
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| The Minnesota Formation Pre-Contest: (L-R) Will Effertz, Autumn Boxum, Gabe Benitez, Geneva Nunes, Devon Brodie, Harley Braun, Matt Bluhm. (Carried) Morgan Fabian |
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| Gabe Benitez working on Individual Pit #1 |
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| Will Effertz finds a spot to sit and observe while in the fray of team pit #2 |
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| Team Captain Devon Brodie working up texture samples |
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| Geneva Nunes completing contemplates the morphological portion of the scorecard |
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| Autumn Boxum and Harley Braun working on texture samples |
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| Matt Bluhm in the fray of an individual pit |
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| Morgan Fabian shoots slope |
