Page 5 - 2021 Soil Judging Newsletter

Region V Soil Judging Contest (continued)
There were a lot of newcomers on the team this semester including Cole Montgomery, Alex Larson, Ben Newcomb, Evan Sinn, Grant Johnson, Jackson Gregory, Kellen O’Connor, and Lucy Gregersen. Returning members were co-captains Willa Nagel and Anjel Chavez, Matt Preis, and Zack Pederson.
Because the University of Minnesota was hosting this year’s regional competition, our dedicated, ambitious, and hardworking coach Prof. Nic Jelinski could not be with us for the competition as he was putting it together in Crookston, MN. He had two graduate students lead the team, Hava Blair and Megan Andersen, as co-coaches.
It was a crash course from the beginning of fall semester in September to the competition week which began September 26. The team met weekly and dedicated time in the evening to go over different aspects of the competition, including texture practice, practice score cards, and area overview and history. The team also had practice pit days on the weekends to get an idea and feel of how competition pits would be.
“ It was so rewarding to see
the team learn as the week progressed. The entire team was so dedicated to understanding the concepts—it made my job easy!
—Megan Andersen UMN Soil Judging Coach
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