5/7/97

Contacts:
Jon Sandor, Agronomy, 515/294-2209
Susan Anderson, Agriculture Information, 515/294-0705

ISU STUDENTS TAKE SECOND PLACE IN SOIL JUDGING CONTEST

AMES, Iowa -- A student team representing Iowa State University took second place in the American Society of Agronomy national soil judging contest. Sixteen university teams competed in the contest April 20-25, hosted by the University of Wisconsin. Forty teams had competed in regional soil judging contests last fall, with the top 16 teams winning the right to compete in the national contest.

Because of the large number of teams and students, only four members of the 10-member team were allowed to compete in the finals. Chosen to represent ISU were Carissa Cunningham of Madelia, Minn., Cory DeJong of Montezuma, Jim O'Brien of Middletown, N.Y, and Matt Schuiteman of Sioux Center.

Individually, the four ISU students all placed within the top 14 out of 63 contestants. Placements included fourth for DeJong, seventh for Schuiteman, 11th for Cunningham and 14th for O'Brien.

Other ISU team members were Heath Ellison, Clarinda; Devin Helming, Schaller; Chad Ihde, Elkader; Jeremy Johannsen, Spencer; Allison Klocke, Mason City; and DeAnn Ricks, Lake City. The team was coached by Jon Sandor, an associate professor of agronomy, and Mike Konen, a graduate student in agronomy.

The contest area was in south central Wisconsin. During the contest, students wrote detailed descriptions of the soil layers, classified the soils, determined the geological characteristics of the site, made topographic and hydrologic measurements and interpreted soil properties for agricultural and engineering land use.

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