Blizzard of Championships Brings Early Christmas for Academic Teams

Teams swept in national and state championships throughout October and November

Written by Cory Chandler

Agronomy Club

Students showcased their knowledge in agronomy at the Students of Agronomy, Soils and Environmental Sciences National Meeting.

Like a freak Christmas snowstorm come early, Texas Tech academic teams swept in a flurry of national and state championships in October and November.

The Agronomy Club and Livestock Judging Team each claimed a third straight national title while the Meat Judging Team and a School of Law team repeated last year’s success.

The Knight Raiders chess team clinched its first two state berths, and law school competition teams garnered wins in two other separate national championships of legal skills.

Meanwhile, a pair of debaters has Texas Tech positioned to snap up yet another trophy.

Quiz Bowling

For the third year in a row, the Agronomy Club held the top spot at the Students of Agronomy, Soils, and Environmental Sciences (SASES) National Meeting held in Pittsburg.

The competition hosted more than 20 teams from across the nation, including Kansas State University, Iowa State University, University of Illinois and Purdue University. [More]

Three’s Company

The Livestock Judging Team also completed a three-peat as it won the 2009 North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville, Ky.

The team won the contest by a four-point margin, posting a total score of 4,653 points. Texas A&M University, the University of Nebraska, Western Illinois University and Oklahoma State University rounded out the top five teams. [More]

Meat Judging

The Meat Judging Team earned a national championship at the American Meat Science Association’s International Meat Judging Contest in Dakota City, Neb.

The team won the contest by an 18-point margin, and was undefeated at six of the seven national contests during the 2009 judging season, making it one of the most successful teams since meat judging began at Texas Tech in 1938. [More]

Meat Judging Team

The Meat Judging Team won the national championship by an 18-point margin, and was undefeated at six of the seven national contests during the 2009 judging season.

Check This

The Knight Raiders captured its first state title Nov. 22 at the Texas Chess Association’s Texas Collegiate Championships. International Masters Gergely Antal and Davorin Kuljasevic also captured the top two spots in individual competition.

The Knight Raiders A Team won team play on tie-breaks to beat the favored University of Texas at Brownsville. The Knight Raiders B Team finished fourth behind the University of Texas at Dallas – the 2008 state champions. [More]

The Law’s on their Side

Michael Martinez and Sam Webb won the National Latino/a Law Students (NLLSA) National Moot Court competition in Chicago. The pair also won the best written brief award and Webb was named top oralist in the final-round victory over Columbia Law. This is the second year in a row a School of Law team has taken the national title.

The Texas Tech moot court team took the second-place spot in the Illinois Appellate Lawyers National Moot Court Competition, also in Chicago. As well as the runner-up trophy, the team brought home the Second-Best Brief Award for Clint Buck, the brief writer.

Another team finished second in the nation at Pepperdine’s National Entertainment Law Moot Court Competition in Malibu, Calif. [More]

More to Come?

A pair from the debate team currently holds the best record of any team in the nation. Brian Horton and Adam Testerman are Texas Tech’s top debaters. They have won 43 debates and lost five.

As of halfway through the season, Texas Tech’s entire debate squad stands in third place nationally.

Jan 15, 2020