Last month, the MU Collegiate Soil Judging Team took home third place at the 2025 Region V Soil Judging Contest in Omaha, advancing to the 2026 National Collegiate Soil Judging contest in Raleigh, North Carolina, this upcoming spring.
Mizzou’s team is the largest collegiate soil judging team in the nation, and although 24 Mizzou students competed in the contest, only 21 actually competed for the Tigers.
South Dakota State University (SDSU) had planned on having the minimum number of three students compete, but one team member sustained an injury the day before the contest, preventing them from attending.
Since there were 24 Mizzou competitors, Coach Kerry Clark, associate research professor in the School of Natural Resources, asked her students if any of them would want to compete with SDSU.
“I told my kids, ‘Hey, I have this weird proposition. Does anybody want to volunteer to help South Dakota so they can compete?’ Carter raised his hand, followed by Laws, and Pfeifer.” Royce Carter is a senior Studying Natural Resource Science and Management, while Ava Laws and Garret Pfeifer are seniors studying Environmental Sciences.
In the end, SDSU placed first, with Carter earning the fifth top individual out of 78 students. The Mizzou students competing for SDSU had a unique experience to learn from a coach other than their own, with new tactics, perspective and experience.
“I think it’s really important for students to learn from different people’s points of view… I thought it would be a good opportunity for them to be coached by SDSU’s coach since we have very different experiences,” Clark said. “At the end of each day, when all of the Mizzou team was reunited, everyone would talk about their day and what they learned. Royce, Ava and Garret mentioned new judging practices they learned from SDSU.”
Mizzou was not far behind SDSU, finishing in third place. Students were coached by Clark and Joey Meinert, instructor in the School of Natural Resources.
The five-day contest, which hosted 10 Midwest teams, included three days of practice, one day of competition and an awards ceremony on the final day. During the first three practice days, students learned how to characterize and classify different types of soil and understand the geology and natural history of the contest area.
“When judging, you have to look at the soil face, soil texture, colors and structure,” said Meinert. “After those steps are completed, students look at the taxonomy of the soil and how to classify based on the properties of that.”
They used knowledge from the classroom, club practices and 12 practice pits they encountered throughout the week on contest day.
Overall, Mizzou had a number of students near the top of the leaderboard, including Carter, 5th overall, Alayna Kruse, 10th overall, and Sam Lestina, India Williams and Emma Knudson, in the top 20 overall. Kruse, Lestina, Williams and Knudson are all seniors at Mizzou studying Environmental Sciences.
“The team could not have done this without the support and funding from the School of Natural Resources and the CAFNR Academic Programs Office,” Clark said.
As of now, the team will be preparing for nationals this spring. Students will continue to practice weekly and learn more about soils in their classes.
To learn more about the team, reach out to Clark, clarkk@missouri.edu, or Meinert, meinertj@missouri.edu.