Nine years—that’s how long the Mid-Atlantic Challenge Cup trophy has been sitting in Lecturer and Turfgrass Management Advisor, Geoffrey Rinehart’s (previously Dr. Kevin Mathias’s) office. The Mid-Atlantic Challenge is a golf competition between the University of Maryland (UMD) and Virginia Tech (VT) turfgrass management programs. It started in the early 2000s, but has been on hiatus for nine years before being resumed this April with a match play competition held at Blacksburg Country Club and hosted by VT. Historically, this event has provided an opportunity for friendly competition and camaraderie between the two programs and an opportunity for an educational seminar or field trip as well.
In early April, Rinehart traveled with four current Turfgrass and Golf IAA students, Brandon Carbary, Clayton Young, Jason Wildt, and Ryan Geils to the Virginia Tech campus. The UMD group joined the VT students for a tour of the soccer/lacrosse and football stadiums at the University of Virginia on the way to Blacksburg and enjoyed a barbecue dinner for all students on Friday night. On Saturday morning before the Challenge Cup competition, the students toured the VT athletic facilities and turfgrass research facilities.
The course at Blacksburg Country Club where the Challenge Cup was hosted is situated in the rolling Shenandoahs surrounding Blacksburg and featured a variety of terrain and interesting holes. Students competed in a 4-on-4 match play format with VT re-gaining the Cup with a 3-1 victory. More importantly, a dormant tradition has been reignited between the two programs.
“A forgotten aspect of college involves the networking you get to do as students of your field, and it was pretty stellar to get a chance to meet those individuals and walk away with memories as well as knowledge. Being able to have the chance to play a great game of golf with some great turf students was something I’ll always take with me as I move forward. It was disappointing to have let go of that trophy, but it’s going to be a show next time when we take it back,” said Wildt.
The “Turf Terps” look forward to hosting the Hokies for the 2020 Challenge Cup next year!
