STMA names 2014 Field of the Year Award winners

The Sports Turf Managers Association (STMA) announced its 2014 Field of the Year Award winners.

Since 1992, STMA’s Field of the Year Award is given to members who manage baseball, football, soccer, softball or other sporting grounds at the professional, collegiate or schools (K-12), and parks and recreation level. The 2014 winners are listed below.

Professional

• Maryland SoccerPlex Stadium Field (Boyds, Md.); Soccer
  • Ryan Bjorn, sports field director

College and University

• Russ Chandler Stadium at Georgia Tech; Baseball
  • Jon DeWitt, CSFM, sports turf manager; Chris May, baseball field manager
• “The Swamp” at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the University of Florida; Football
  • Jason Smith, turf coordinator
• John Cropp Stadium at University of Kentucky; Softball
  • Eric Harshman, sports turf assistant manager
• Georgia State Soccer Complex at Georgia State University; Soccer
  • Kyle Slaton, CSFM, director of sports turf and grounds

Schools and Parks

• Don Dunker Field at Noblesville Schools (Noblesville, Ind.); Baseball
  • Joshua Weigel, superintendent of grounds
• Clover Memorial Stadium at Clover School District (Clover, S.C.); Football
  • Will Rogers, sports turf manager
• Waukegan Park District (Waukegan, Ill.); Baseball
  • Noel Brusius, CSFM, sports turf manager
• North Area Athletic Complex Soccer Field at Jefferson County School District (Golden, Colo.); Soccer
  • Sun Roesslein, stadium manager; Christi Clay, stadium manager
• Championship Field at Pleasant View Sports Complex (Boulder, Colo.); Sporting Grounds
  • Don McGhee, head sports turf manager

“The Field of the Year Award is a testament to the personal and professional contributions by a select group of sports turf industry leaders,” says Kim Heck, CEO of STMA. “The process of selecting winners each year becomes more difficult as the candidate pool grows and the industry continues to progress with innovative technologies, state-of-the-art equipment and best practices.”

A panel of 11 judges independently scored entries based on playability, appearance of surfaces, utilization of innovative solutions, effective use of budget and implementation of a comprehensive agronomic program. Judges may not award a field in each category.

Awards will be presented at the 26th STMA Conference & Exhibition, held Jan. 13-16, 2015, in Denver, Colo. Nearly 1,200 leaders in the sports turf industry will converge at the Colorado Convention Center for more than 75 hours of leading-edge educational seminars, exhibitor demonstrations and networking opportunities.