Garfield-Palouse FFA team defends state title

A Garfield-Palouse FFA team topped 24 other state entries to win the state land judging contest last Wednesday at Valleyford.

The win means Garfield/Palouse has remained undefeated in the state land judging contest for the third consecutive year.

The Spokane Soil Conservation District hosted the state contest with 25 teams competing for the chance to attend the National Contest next spring in Oklahoma. Teams evaluated four different sites for their suitability to raise crops or their potential use as a homesite based on factors such as soil texture, permeability, erosion, flooding, frost-free days, precipitation and water table.

They must also measure the depth of a pit without a ruler or tape measure, and also be able to quantify the slope of a hillside with and without the use of instruments.

The Viking championship team included Chad Redman, J.B. Lange, Tiona Shea, Heidi Jamison and Missy Johnson.

Individually, Missy placed second with a score of 283, Chad placed fourth with 277, J.B. placed fifth with 271, and Tiona earned seventh with 259. Together, the team received a total of 1090 points.

Kristin Nelson, Sarah Bofenkamp, Derrick Bosch, Holly Leendertsen and Cassie Thompson made up the second Garfield-Palouse team, which placed sixth with 827 points.

At last year’s National Contest, Garfield-Palouse members Tianna Woltering, Elisha Lopez, Blake Slocum, Ben Weagraff and Alex Keeney represented Washington State.

In the Western Region, they placed second in land and third in homesite. Overall, they took 16th for homesite and 22nd for land judging.