The NDSU horticulture and forestry club was named first place team overall at the Mid-America Collegiate Horticulture Society conference and competition hosted by the University of Minnesota-Crookston Sept. 29-30. Two students also placed in individual events.

The team included Anne Gatzke, a senior agricultural and biosystems engineering and horticulture double major from Elk River, Minnesota; Connor Hagemeyer, a junior horticulture major from Clara City, Minnesota; Torie Jones, a senior horticulture and public history double major from Bowdon, North Dakota; and Andrew Scheldorf, a senior horticulture major from Chokio, Minnesota.

Hagemeyer won First Place Individual Overall and took first place in woody plant identification, second place in herbaceous plant identification and third place in commodity judging and the general knowledge exam.

Scheldorf placed second in the general knowledge exam.

Club members Halley Bartlett, a sophomore landscape architecture major from Kenmare, North Dakota, and Garrett Schumacher, a sophomore horticulture major from Heron Lake, Minnesota, also competed.

The club is advised by Department of Plant Sciences faculty members Harlene Hatterman-Valenti and Todd West.

The Mid-America Collegiate Horticulture Society is comprised of horticulture clubs from universities and two-year colleges in Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The conference is held at a different host school each fall.

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