By Liz Beavers
lbeavers@newstribune.info
tribune managing editor
KEYSER — Mineral County’s Agricultural Mechanics team brought home the gold this past weekend.
The five-member team earned a number of gold medals in the National Ag Mechanics Competition held in Indianapolis, Ind., and became what past and present school officials believe is the first gold medal ag mechanics team for the county.
“As far as we know, it’s the first gold medal this school has received in ag mechanics,” instructor Dana Young said. “If not the first, then it’s the first in a very, very long time.”
Young said he spoke with the wife of former ag mechanics instructor and retired Technical Center principal Alan Whetzel, who said there had not been any gold medalists since he began teaching the subject in 1975.
“A professor at West Virginia University said he didn’t recall it happening in the last 26 years,” Young added.
In order to qualify for the national competition, the students earned the title of first in the state of West Virginia in September.
Competition includes expertise in welding, hydraulics, irrigation, electrical wiring, computer skills, and machinery.
The team, consisting of Russell Stark of Burlington, Jared Plum of Burlington, Zack Cummings of Keyser,
Brent Ebert of New Creek, and Kyle Kesner of Antioch, finished 11th in the nation after competing with 46 teams from practically every state in the nation.
Individually, the students brought home two gold medals and two silver – Kesner finished seventh and Stark, 50th, for the gold medals and Plum finished 63rd and Ebert, 107th, for the silver medals.
“That was out of a field of about 180 total,” Young explained.
In addition, Kesner earned a $500 scholarship for his Top 10 showing.
The students seemed to take the competition in stride, however.
“Some parts of it were tough, but some were easy,” Ebert said.
Stark added that the work was “a lot of hands-on,” while Kesner noted that it involved “a lot of math.”
Young’s pride in the students was evident this week as he talked about their accomplishments.
“This is huge,” he said, as the team members signed their names on the side of a MIG (metal inert gas) welder which they won at the competition.
“I’m not sure but this might even be the first gold placing team for the state of West Virginia,” he said.
