Congratulations to the WSU team of Jared Bell (MPS doctoral candidate), Alan Raeder and Misha Manuchehri (Crop Science master’s students), and Nevin Lawrence (Crop Science doctoral student) who placed first in the Western Region division of the first annual Weed Olympics held in Knoxville on July 27. Jared Bell also scored a third place win as an individual graduate student in the Western Region. All four students are advised by WSU weed scientist Ian Burke.
The Weed Olympics is an unusual event, Burke said, and can be quite challenging. Individuals are required to identify weeds, unknown herbicides, complete sprayer calibration problems, and participate in a role playing exercise that requires student to solve a problem a grower might encounter.
Weeds and weed problems in Tennessee look a little different than those in Washington, Burke added, but team of WSU students rose to the challenge. “The team worked hard the past few weeks to prepare,” Burke said.
This was the first Weed Olympics that brought student competitors from across the nation.