2009 Weeds Team
On Wednesday, July 23, 2009, the OAC Weeds Team arrived at the combined North Central and North East Weed Science Collegiate Contest hosted by ABG Ag Services located near Sheridan, Indiana. This was the first time the North Central and the North East had combined to host the conference. Two graduate and three undergraduate teams from OAC competed ( see picture #1). The purpose of this contest is to provide students with an educational experience that tests their applied agronomic skills in the disciplines of crop protection and agronomy. A total of 90 graduate and undergraduate students participated, representing 11 different schools. The OAC Weeds team was the only Canadian team. The universities represented were Guelph, Cornell, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, and Kansas.
The awards were distributed first to the individual conference winners and then for overall performance. Within the North East Conference, the University of Guelph, undergraduate teams placed first, second and third in this year’s competition. The first place OAC Weeds Team members were Blair Freeman, Andrew Reid and Scott Timmings. The second place team consisted of Amanda Green, Craig Arnett and Ryan Stafford and the third place team members were Wesley Emmett, Thomas Judd, Ryan Benjamens and Eric Schroeders. Andrew Reid, Blair Freeman and Amanda Green placed first, second and third respectively, for outstanding individual performance.
The graduate teams placed second and third. The second place team consisted of Scott Cressman, Chase Phillips, Joel Hemingway and Ben Rosser and the members of the third place team were Meghan Moran, Melody DeJong and Marijke Van Andel. In addition, several team members were acknowledged for their top ranking in the various events.
Since this was the first time the two conferences were combined, a single award, “The Golden Hoe Award”, representing the top undergraduate and graduate teams for the entire conference was awarded. The OAC Undergraduate team placed first, as the top undergraduate team in the entire competition, achieving higher marks than 10 other schools from the United States (see picture # 2).
Guelph undergraduate teams have dominated the North Eastern Weed Science Society's Collegiate Weed Science Contest with 15 first place wins since 1983. The team was coached by Dr. Clarence Swanton. Special thanks go to Kevin Chandler and Mike Cowbrough for their contributions to the success of the 2009 OAC Weeds Team. The financial support of Bayer CropScience Inc., Monsanto Canada Inc., Dow AgroSciences, Syngenta Crop Protection Canada Inc., and the Ontario Weed Committee is gratefully acknowledged.
Past Years' Weeds Teams:
2008
2007
2006