Columbia Falls student on winning animal-science team

MSU News Service

BOZEMAN — A Columbia Falls woman was part of a four-person team from Montana State University that recently won the Western Region Academic Quadrathlon in animal science, held June 23-25 in San Angelo, Texas.

Anna Downen of Columbia Falls and her three teammates from the Department of Animal and Range Sciences at MSU will now advance to the national competition to be held July 20-21 in Kansas City, Mo.

The other team members are Preston Kiehl of Winnett, Jessica Roloff of Bozeman and Ben Stokes of Pflugerville, Texas. They competed in a four-part contest that consisted of a comprehensive written exam, impromptu oral presentation, hands-on lab practicum and double-elimination quiz bowl tournament.

This is the second year in a row that MSU has won the regional contest. The MSU team competed with five other western region universities, including California State University-Chico, Brigham Young University-Idaho, New Mexico State University, Oregon State University and University of Wyoming.

“Anna, Preston, Jessie and Ben did a spectacular job representing MSU at the contest. I’m very proud of their hard work. It’s exciting that MSU now has back-to-back wins in the regional contest,” team adviser Rachel Endecott said.

Three of the four students graduated in May. Downen now lives in Fairview and works at a Sidney veterinary clinic. Roloff is working on a ranch near Lewistown, and Stokes is starting a master’s degree at Iowa State University. Kiehl has one semester remaining and plans to return to his family ranch.

The regional contest was held in conjunction with the 2014 Western Section American Society of Animal Science meetings, hosted by Angelo State University.

The national contest will be held in conjunction with the joint American Dairy Science Association, American Society of Animal Science and Canadian Society of Animal Science meetings.