The ISU Turf Club won first place at the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America’s annual conference for a second year in a row.

Nick Christians, professor of horticulture and adviser to the group, said the club members represented Iowa State in front of 19,000 people at the conference in Atlanta last week.

He said the team prepared all year for the turf bowl.

“They get together for study sessions at each turf club meeting where they test each other,” Christians said.

“They also have a contest before they go to Atlanta to decide who’s on which team.”

ISU students accounted for six of the 71 teams that participated in the competition Feb. 10 to 15, Christians said.

“The competition was really intense,” he said. “It consists of a large test that takes three hours that cover just about every area of agronomics.”

Plant, weed and insect identification, math, soil science, plant pathology and weed control are all included in the competition, he said.

Luke Dant, senior in horticulture, said the hardest part of competing in the turf bowl is not knowing what material will be covered.

“It requires a very broad-based knowledge,” he said. “The pesticide section was fairly tough as far as knowing what each one controlled and their chemical and trade names.”

The team edged out Purdue by five points. Penn State came in third.

“I got second place last year. This time I actually made it,” Dant said.

Marcus Jones, senior in horticulture, has been on the winning team two of the three years he’s participated in the turf bowl. He is in Georgia on an internship and was unable to train with the team before the competition. He said he used previous experience to prepare for the event.

Jones said winning was the perfect way to conclude his last trip to the conference.

“Going into the competition, I always try and stay humble and you never quite know what’s going to happen,” he said.

“I would have been disappointed if we didn’t win since it was my last year. We usually try and set our goals high.”

Jones said he will include his turf bowl successes on his resume.

“Just the fact that you get that extra experience helps,” he said. “I think it shows motivation because everyone that participates does it as an extracurricular [activity]. When the team gets together to study, it takes time away from school, which speaks volumes about the students, especially the younger kids.”

Christians said participation in the turf bowl tells potential employers the students are well trained.

“It’s a tremendous learning tool because it gets [the students] together at night to study when they don’t have to,” he said. “The students who win will get a lot of coverage in the industry.”