Five-peat: Texas A&M wins Southern section Academic Quadrathlon

The Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Department of Animal Science Academic Quadrathlon Team walked away as winners for the fifth consecutive time at the Southern Regional contest held by the American Society of Animal Science recently.

This year’s team members were Anna Cox, Belton; Aaron Strittmatter, Pilot Point; Collin Strittmatter, Pilot Point; and Rendyn Lamance, Boyd. Sushil Paudyal, Ph.D., assistant professor of dairy science, served as the team’s advisor. Thomas Welsh, Ph.D., professor of physiology of reproduction in the Department of Animal Science, chaperoned the team to the Arlington contest this year.

The Academic Quadrathlon is a competition held at the local, regional and national levels. Teams of four are made up of university undergraduate students. The team was selected to compete through a local contest held in November 2024. While all four members this year are animal science majors, any student from any major within the College may try out for the team.

Academic quadrathlon contest builds practical skills

In the contest, teams participate in four events: Laboratory Practicum, Written Exam, Oral Presentation and Quiz Bowl. These events help the students build leadership, public speaking, critical thinking and time management skills, Paudyal said.

The Southern Region contest was held at Tarleton State University for the written and lab practicum portions and in Arlington for the oral and quiz bowl competitions.

The event has been held for 13 years, and a Texas A&M team has claimed first place in eight of those years.

In the Southern Region, competition is against teams from Texas Tech University – second this year, West Texas A&M University – third this year, Tarleton State University, Texas State University, the University of Georgia, Berry College, Eastern Kentucky University, North Carolina State University, Tuskegee University and Virginia Tech University.