The UT Food Science and Technology College Bowl team finished second place at the Institute of Food Technologist’s (IFT) Student Association Midwest College Bowl Competition in East Lansing, Michigan on Saturday, April 4. The College Bowl is a knowledge-recall competition between IFT-sanctioned food science departments across the US and is split into eight regions. UT is in the Midwest Region with Michigan State University, University of Illinois, Purdue University, Ohio State University and University of Kentucky.
UT opened the competition with a 26-10 victory over last year’s National Champion, Ohio State. They followed that with a 32-12 thrashing of the host team, Michigan State University. In the championship round, Tennessee faced Purdue University in a double elimination playoff. Purdue won the first match but Tennessee came back in the second match to defeat Purdue. The final and deciding game was a hard fought victory for Purdue which will send them to the national tournament in Anaheim, California.
The team members, pictured above were (front row, left to right): Helen Kerr, Bhavini Shah, team captain Josh Jones and Paul Nicely. Also pictured are (back row, left to right) faculty coach Michael Davidson and alternates Monica Brandon, Tiara Troutt, and Kari Jones. Other team members who contributed but were not able to make the trip to East Lansing were Whitney McCraney, Chelsea Cooper and Cheyenne Dillon. Faculty members Qixin Zhong and John Mount also coached the team.