Published: October 27, 2009 10:14 am      

Eastern team nets national honors

Not to be outdone by the Livestock Judging Teams who have recently earned national honors, Eastern Oklahoma State College Soil Judging Team brought first place honors from Indiana last week.

Eastern Soil Judging Team was invited to participate in the American Society of Agronomy Region III Soil Judging Contest held at West Lafayette, Ind., on Purdue University’s campus farm, according to Eastern Soil Judging Team Coach Leland Walker.

“The contest was designed for universities,” he said, “but two years ago they began inviting junior colleges and the two-year colleges now have a contest at the same time and at the same location.

“We had the opportunity to practice a few days before the Oct. 10 competition,” Walker said.

Walker said Eastern students had the opportunity to “view and evaluate soils which were developed from glacial till, glacial kames, till plains, loess plains and hill slopes and even had the opportunity to see a couple of soils which originated in the form of ancient sand dunes.”

The contest consisted of students evaluating four separate sites dealing with: Soil Morphology: classifying the soil horizons by depth, consistency, texture, color and structure; Site Characteristics: parent material, land form, slope, erosion, depth drainage and permeability; Interpretations: land class, subclass, suitability for road fill, suitability for septic tanks and suitability for sewage lagoons.

The Eastern team placed first in the Junior College Division with individual placing: Vernon Wilson from Rattan placing first high individual overall; Tansy Grimmett, Rattan, 2nd high individual; Jared Lemmons, Rattan, 8th high individual; April Palmer, Hugo, 9th high individual; Elizabeth Adams, Soper, 10th high individual and Travis Petty, Buffalo Valley, 17th high individual.

Walker said the second place team was from Black Hawk, Ill., with Vincennes, Ind. taking third.