Iowa State University Turf Club recently participated in the 13th Annual Sports Turf Managers Association Student Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas. Iowa State had three teams in the contest. The exam covered turfgrass identification, pest and weed identification, infield materials, irrigation questions, turfgrass mathematics, and other questions of knowledge including human resource and budget questions. This was the first time for Iowa State to win the STMA Student Challenge. To prepare, the students took part in weekly study sessions in the fall and used knowledge from classes at Iowa State. Students from 2-year and 4-year colleges and universities across the country competed. This winning team received a cash prize, a trophy, and medals. The prize money will be used to help create a lab focusing on sports turf management.
Pictured left to right are members of the first place team: Alex Polnow, Marcus O'Brien, Ethan Kane, and Matt Collingbourne.