Mountaineers aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty. That’s especially true of the West Virginia University Soils Team, which took second-place honors at the 2015 National Collegiate Soils Contest.

Nine WVU students from the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design competed against teams from 21 other schools from across the country. The University of Arkansas at Monticello hosted the 55th annual installment of the competition, offering some soggy conditions for students, who spent four days practicing for the two-day contest.

“The flood plains and terraces of the Mississippi Delta region are flat, especially compared to landscapes in West Virginia, and the soils are naturally wet because of the low relief,” said James Thompson, professor of soils and land use in the Davis College and coach of the team.

“With rainfall on already wet soils, we spent some time each day pumping and bailing water from the practice pits, but despite the mud, the team had an excellent week and performed well in the contest,” Thompson said.

Adrienne Nottingham, a senior in soil science from Green Bank, was the top individual finisher from WVU, placing third in a field of 86 competitors. Ellie Bell, a senior in soil science from Mingo, and Becca Swope, a senior in agricultural and extension education from Salem, Ohio, tied for 17th place.

Individual performance, combined with WVU’s eighth-place finish in the group judging, put WVU in second place overall. Nottingham’s ranking earned her the opportunity to represent the U.S. in the International Soil Judging Contest in Hungary in September 2015.

“This marks the seventh top-10 finish for WVU in the past ten years, and it’s WVU’s best finish since winning the national championship in 2006,” Thompson said.

Other team members competing in Arkansas were David Ackley, a junior in agribusiness management and rural development from Edon, Ohio; Riley Biddle, a junior in agronomy from Carmichaels, Pa.; Ashley Johnson, an animal and nutritional sciences student from Frostburg, Md.; Jimmy Leonard, a sophomore in agroecology Middletown, Md.; Emily Lessman, a sophomore in soil science from Mount Pleasant, Pa.; and Emily Wells, a senior in agribusiness management and rural development from Sistersville. Heather Watson, a doctoral candidate in plant and soil sciences, served as assistant coach.

-WVU-

dw/04/28/15

CONTACT: David Welsh, Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Design
304.293.2394, David.Welsh@mail.wvu.edu

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