The UW-Platteville Collegiate Crops Team competed in the 86th Annual and 91th Annual Collegiate Crops contests that was held in Kansas City
and Chicago. The participants in the Crops team included Audrey Pelikan,
a sophomore Soil and Crop Science major; Shannon Lamb, a junior Soil
and Crop Science major; and Anastasia Kurth, a sophomore Soil and Crop
Science major.
During this competition, UW-Platteville placed second followed by Iowa State, Purdue, Virginia Tech,
South Dakota State, Oklahoma State, UniversityCrookston, Murray State, UW-Madison and Michigan
State.
Pelikan placed sixth overall in both contests, third in
the commercial grading phase in Chicago and fourth
in the seed analysis and identification phases in Kansas City. Lamb placed seventh and eighth overall and she also placed third
and fifth in grain grading at both contests. Kurth placed fourth individually
in grain grading at both contests, and all three competitors achieved AllAmerican status in commercial grain grading.
“The 2019 participation represented the 50th year in which the team has
participated in these two historic contests. The UW-Platteville team has
placed second on 28 occasions and first on 10 occasions over the past fifty
years,” according to one of the team coaches Dr. Roger Higgs.
“I am very proud of our team placing second in both national contests.
We worked hard to prepare, and it paid off. I thought each contest had its
own unique challenges, but we all did well overall. I am happy to have
personally placed in grain grading,” said Kurth.
Keegan Bruins, a member of the crops team, said, “With this being my
first semester on the Crops Team, my trip to Chicago was a very good experience. I learned lots of valuable lessons and was able to take home lots
of knowledge for the future. It was also a great experience to network with
many other agriculture schools across the nation.”