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The Fresno State ungraded judging squad celebrated a first-place decorativeness successful the 2024 Region 6 Collegiate Soil Judging Contest connected Saturday, Nov. 2, near Albuquerque, New Mexico to suffice for the 2025 national competition, which volition beryllium hosted April 27 to May 2 by the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Plant Science Department seniors Tanner Ozuna (Hanford), Adrian Gutierrez (Merced) and Hannah Chamberlin (Fresno) placed first, 2nd and 3rd overall, respectively. The wide squad triumph was the archetypal for Fresno State nether the guidance of works subject module and squad manager Michael Sowers.
Among the 38 contestants, elder Jimena Quezada Ayon (Fresno, sixth), inferior Mariela Perez-Garcia (Kerman, seventh) and elder Juan Magana (Firebaugh, ninth) besides finished successful the apical 10 overall.
Other members of the squad included seniors Gabriela Rios (Sanger, 11th), William Dowling (Fresno, 14th) and Aaron Delgado (Avenal, 23rd) and inferior Emma Fabbri (Bakersfield, 28th).
“The team’s show was incredible,” Sowers said. ”Having six squad members successful the apical 10 and taking first, 2nd and 3rd was an astonishing feat, particularly erstwhile competing against apical universities with ungraded subject majors. The students had to learn, grasp and recognize not lone however to picture soils, but to besides construe their features and classify their taxonomy. Their beardown show successful this contention was a effect of their hard enactment and dedication passim the semester. I’m looking guardant to taking them to nationals.”
The contention was hosted by New Mexico State University connected the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service probe workplace successful Los Lunas, New Mexico on the westbound broadside of the Rio Grande River. Soils evaluated for the contention consisted of caller and aged alluvial, water-based deposits and eolian, wind-based deposits.
Students were scored based connected their ungraded pit observations, evaluations of carnal and chemic properties and related feasibility successful cultivation and engineering applications.
Fresno State students who competed are portion of the works subject ungraded judging people taught by Sowers, who besides works arsenic a managing ungraded idiosyncratic astatine Valley Science and Engineering, a Valmont company.
The people emphasizes USDA methods for describing and interpreting soils for their capabilities and uses to hole students for careers successful a wide scope of cultivation and earthy resource-related areas specified arsenic the Natural Resource Conservation Service, U.S. Forestry Service, Bureau of Land Management, backstage workplace absorption and biology consulting.
Under the guidance of Sowers, Fresno State besides made trips to the nationalist contention successful 2024 (24th), 2018 (15th), 2017 (20th) and 2016 (18th).
Other teams that earned 2025 nationalist invites from the caller determination lawsuit included Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo (second place) and UC Davis (third place). New Mexico State and Cal Poly-Humboldt besides competed successful the five-team event.
