]More than 150 students attended the Sports Turf Managers Association’s (STMA) 23rd Annual Conference and Exhibition in Long Beach, Calif., Jan. 10-14, 2012. One of the biggest highlights of the show was the STMA Student Challenge, a sports turf knowledge competition supported by Hunter Industries and the Foundation for Safer Athletic Fields for Everyone (SAFE).

Teams of up to four students participated in a multiple choice exam on athletic turf and sports field management topics and identified plants, insects, diseases and weeds, and irrigation parts, as well as answering a series of challenging short answer questions about given scenarios. The winning two-year team and the winning four-year team in the STMA Student Challenge each receive a $4,000 grant to fund a practical learning lab at their college or university.

Twenty-four teams competed in the Four-Year competition and the winning team came from Purdue, which consisted of John Thackery, Zachary Peterson, Joey Gerking and Ben Baumer. Team beat out Maryland and Virginia Tech teams by just one and only one-and-one-half points respectively. Thirteen teams competed in the Two-Year Competition, with the Kirkwood Community College Team 204 taking top honors. Kirkwood Students Tim Sims, Tyler Timmerman, Tyler Dean and Luke Perkins outpaced Mt. San Antonio College Team 209 by three points.

Hunter Industries’ continued sponsorship helped to defray some of the Student Challenge competitors’ conference costs. The results of the Student Challenge were announced out of the Hunter booth in the exhibition, drawing more than 150 people onto the floor in the late hours of the show. Hunter would like to congratulate all of the participants in this years’ contest. We look forward to seeing you out in the workforce in the coming years.