PEMBERVILLE
– Elmwood FFA swept all the top honors at the Wood County FFA soil judging event held Sept. 16 at the
Kenneth and Thomas Seiving Farm, on North River Road, Pemberville.
The chapter’s teams won both the urban and rural soil division, with its team members taking four of the
top five spots individually in the urban event; and three of the top four places in the rural contest.
Eastwood was second in the urban event, followed by Otsego and Penta County. Otsego was second in the
rural contest, followed by Eastwood and Bowling Green.
In the urban contest Elmwood totaled 1,486 points led by Casey Heller with 502, J.R. Laborie, 499 and
Vanessa Wagner at 485. They were also first through third, individually for the county as well. Tyler
Morlock with 477 was fifth overall. Lorne Strausbaugh, 469, was seventh overall; while Kyle Avery and
Taylor Murphy, totaled 460 and 457, respectively to finish ninth and 10th individually.
The host Eastwood FFA was second at 1,422. The team was led by Julie Russell with 484; Amanda Isaacson at
472; and Clayton Kemner with 466. Individually, they ranked fourth, sixth and eighth, respectively in
the county totals.
Otsego FFA totaled 1,258 points. Top scorers were Josh Main, 429; Megan Polker, 423; and Dylan Jacobs,
406. Others in the top five for the chapter were Eli Cheney, 404, and Jon Walker, 399.
Penta’s FFA team scored 1,077 points. They were led by Tyler Shaner, 396; James Cass, 342; and Adam
Shaner, 339.
Only the top three individuals from each chapter are used to calculate the team score.
In the rural contest, Elmwood’s winning total was 998 points. Brittney Grilliot was tops for the chapter
and the event with a score of 346; followed by her teammate, Sarah Laborie at 336. The third high scorer
for Elmwood and fourth overall was Courtney Thomson at 316. Staci Thomson, at 282 and Miranda Wagner,
278, completed Elmwood’s top five.
Caroline Weihl totaled 322 points to pace
Otsego’s second place total of 918. Weihl was third overall individually in the contest. Her teammates
included Joe Thomas and Mike Hannewald, each with 298 totals. They were in a 3-way tied for seventh
place in the individual ranking. Chris Perry scored 284 and Pohe Harrison 282 to complete Otsego’s top
five.
Eastwood’s 892 total placed them third overall. High scorers were Erin Nelson with 304 in sixth place
individually and Sarah Snyder as the last seventh place overall tie at 298; and Madison Renollet at 290,
and a 10th place ranking. Other individual highs for Eastwood were Courtney Summerville, 268 and Tyler
Bourdo, 252.
Bowling Green scored 838 points. Mollie Weiker had 310 to lead the team and placed fifth individually.
Other teammates for BG included Alex McCurdy and Ashley Ford, each with 264; Lindsay Wagner, 256; and
Amy Johnson, 244.
FFA members work in a soil pit during the county contest. (Photo courtesy of Eastwood FFA)
