This last weekend the UW-Platteville Crops Team competed in the Upper Midwest Regional Collegiate Crops Contest. Platteville placed first overall, followed by University of Minnesota-Crookston, South Dakota State and UW-Madison. The team’s coaches are Dr. Andrew Cartmill and Dr. Roger Higgs.

“The team score is based upon the scores of the top three individuals. UW-Platteville has placed first twenty times in the Upper Midwest Region since 1974. The team will compete in Kansas City and Chicago national contests in mid-November,” Dr. Higgs said. “UW-Platteville had six of the top eight overall individual scores among 17 participants.”

The six UW-Platteville participants were: Shannon Lamb, a soil & crop science student, who placed second; Audrey Pelikan, a soil and crop science student, who placed third; Anastasia Kurth, also a soil and crop science, who placed fourth; another soil and crop major, Kayla Rayburn, who placed sixth; Keegan Bruins, an agribusiness major, who placed seventh; and Bria Sweeney, a soil and crop science student, who placed eighth.

Some of the members gave their own experience and thoughts on the crops team and competition this last weekend.

“The regionals are always difficult yet are great preparation for our national contests in November.  This contest was particularly difficult, but our team competed very well, and I am happy with my overall placement.  I think our team will be strong at nationals this year after all the hard work we have put in over the past few semesters,” Kurth said.

“Regionals helps prepare the team for nationals as it is much more difficult than nationals. This was my third time competing at regionals and overall the team did very well. Crops team helps students with identification of crops, weeds, diseases and seeds. It also helps with academics, professional development and networking,” Lamb said.

“It was a long but rewarding day. My experience was a positive one. I got my personal best score in plant identification, which was really rewarding to see that practice is paying off,” Sweeney said.