Austin grad part of SDSU team comes up just short for quarter-scale tractor threepeat
Published 6:50 pm Friday, June 21, 2024
Members of SDSU’s Quarter-Scale Tractor Team, from left, Aaron Fitzke, Jaydon Estebo, Douglas Prairie (adviser), Dawson Gulizia, Kade Rupp, Logan Turgasen, Ryan VanPelt, Jarrett Wildman, Evan Madsen, Phillip Black, Samuel Meyer, Joseph Stumpf, Samuel Nilsson, Brock Hansen, Joseph Mohr, Cameron Bennett, Isaac Knobloch, Trevor Sieberg, Mark Hague and Brian Langum (adviser). The tractor on the left, Rabbit Force 1, was the 2023 overall champion and was entered in this year’s redesign competition, placing second. The tractor on the right is the 2024 entry, Phantom, which placed third in the primary competition. Photos provided
The Phantom, SDSU's entry team in the International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition in Peoria, Illinois, sits ready to compete. Photo provided
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An Austin graduate was part of a South Dakota State University team that finished among the best in the country recently.
Ryan VanPelt, of Austin, was one of the 23-member team that was third in the 27th annual International Quarter-Scale Tractor Student Design Competition in Peoria, Illinois.
The team came up short of capturing its third-straight title, coming in behind teams from North Carolina and Kansas State, who finished first and second respectively. SDSU scored 2,164 points out of 2,405 possible. Just two points separated them from North Carolina.
The top five teams were separated by just six points.
The club’s adviser, Douglas Prairie, a lecturer in the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, called the team’s accomplishment a “testament to their continued focus on setting the bar higher every year for both themselves and for the competition.”
