First Place Team: Front (L to R): Abby Snyder and Adam Willman. Back: Emma Runquist, Ilene Finn, Joe Metzger.
Marshalltown High School is advancing two teams to the state Envirothon April 15 at Springbrook State Park in Guthrie Center.
MHS had three teams compete at the regional contest March 21 at the West Des Moines campus of Des Moines Area Community College. Two teams placed first and second and are now ranked first and 11th heading into state competition. The third MHS team, comprised mostly of ninth grade students relatively new to Envirothon, placed 9th out of 12 teams at regionals.
Sixteen teams qualify for state based on regional scores. There were five regional locations with 56 teams competing.
The first-ranked team (seniors Joe Metzger and Emma Runquist, juniors Abby Snyder, Adam Willman, Ilene Finn) had the highest soils and forestry score of all teams in the state after the regional contests. Metzger, Snyder, and Willman return to this team after being on the state championship/national qualifying team last year.
Second Place: Front (L to R): Hannah Lindgren, Rachel Heatwole. Back: Chandler Fisher, Madison Sogge, Wynn Tan,
The second team (juniors Wynn Tan and Madison Sogge, sophomores Chandler Fisher and Rachel Heatwole, freshman Hannah Lindgren) tied with the first team for the highest soil score.
The third team is comprised of senior Kaelee Matney and freshmen Olyvia Mathews, Ryan McDaniel, Andrea Lothe, Jacob Ramsey-Smith. Not able to compete was Dayana Carrera.
Ninth Place (clockwise from bottom left): Olyvia Mathews, Andrea Lothe, Jacob Ramsey-Smith, Kaelee Matney, Ryan McDaniel
The team is very motivated to compete well at state this year as the winner earns the right to represent Iowa at the Cannon Envirothon International contest in Bozeman, Montana, during the first week of August.
The state contest will consist of four outdoor stations covering forestry, wildlife, soils, and aquatics as well as a 15-minute oral presentation on this year’s current issue of range-land management. More information about Envirothon in Iowa can be found at https://sites.google.com/a/cfu.net/iowa-envirothon/
