Cal Poly Pomona agriculture students took sixth place at the 40th annual National Collegiate Landscape Competition.
The team was one of 63 that participated in the three-day contest, held March 16-19 at Mississippi State University. Michigan State University won the competition, followed by Brigham Young University-Idaho, Cuyahoga Community College, Colorado State University and Brigham Young University-Provo.
Cal Poly Pomona finished ahead of teams from such schools as North Carolina State, Kansas State, Penn State, Virginia Tech, West Virginia University, Auburn, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. The team consisted of David Avila, Emelio Castillo, Oscar Del Real, Miwa Ishisaka, Felix Jaimes, Jasmine Lopez, Katie Mason, Mark Nakatsui, Ted Pan, Don Quigley, Chris Rickards, Lucia Sellati, Brett Timmons, Ivan Velazquez, and Robert Williams.
The team's advisors are Eudell Vis, Fred Roth, Jim Downer, Adam Mason, Dave Matias, Ryan Nichols and Aaron Fox.
Robert Williams finished with a 10th place overall ranking among the nearly 700 students in the competition.
Cal Poly Pomona students also recorded to two top-three rankings in individual events. Ivan Velazquez took third place in the exterior landscape design event, while Williams took second place in the tractor loader backhoe operation event.
The event was formerly known as the PLANET competition. Cal Poly Pomona has a history of excellence in the competition, taking home the national team title in 2009.