University of Guelph students winners at national weed science contest

The University of Guelph’s weeds team were big winners at the Weed Science Society of America’s National Weed Science Contest in Union City, Tennessee this past week

The 17-member team of graduate and undergraduate students have been preparing for months to test their weed ID, herbicide symptomology, sprayer calibration and farmer problem solving against students from all over the U.S.

As the only Canadian representatives, the Guelph team matched skills with more than 250 participants from U.S. schools including, Penn State, Cornell, Ohio State, NC State, Auburn, Louisiana State, Wisconsin and Kansas State.

“Our students represented our department, college and university with great pride. They all did well, and many of them received awards,” reports team coach and University of Guelph professor François Tardif.

Here’s a look at the list of Guelph students who received awards at the 2023 National Weed Science Contest:

Northeastern Division
Individual Events Awards:

• 1st Place: Curtis Vanrooy –Undergrad Farmer Problem
• 1st Place: Marinda DeGier- Grad Farmer Problem
• 1st Place: Undergrad Team 3, Kaitlin Woods, Sophie Van den Borre, Lucy McNiven – Sprayer Calibration

Team Awards

• 1st Place: Undergrad Team 1, Noelle Adams, Stephanie Fletcher, Curtis Vanrooy, Joe Rastapkevicius
• 2nd Place: Undergrad Team 2, Maggie Durnin, Marissa Jeens, Kelly Ruigrok, Quinn Driscoll

National Division
Individual Events Awards

• 1st Place: Jillian Ohm – Undergrad Farmer Problem
• 1st Place: Undergrad Team 3, Kaitlin Woods, Sophie Van den Borre, Lucy McNiven – Sprayer Calibration

Team Awards

• 1st Place Overall: Undergrad Team 1, Noelle Adams, Stephanie Fletcher, Curtis Vanrooy, Joe Rastapkevicius

“As the coach, I am very grateful for the support we have been getting from the OAC Learning Trust and from multiple companies as well as the help from Peter Smith, Mike Cowbrough, Meghan Grguric and Robert Moloney,” Tardif adds.

See Related: Weed science contest preps students for real-world challenges