09/19/11 jgm

HAYS, Kan. -- Fort Hays State University's financial planning team won first place at the Financial Planning Challenge national competition in San Diego.

The team is Layne Krizek, Hays senior, Nolan Kempke, Claflin senior, and Cameron Werth, Hays senior.

Teams compete in three phases: a written case study, an oral presentation of the case study and a financial planning trivia contest.

FHSU has competed in this contest since 2001 against schools across the nation, including Colorado State University, Kansas State University, Virginia Tech, Purdue and Texas Tech. They have advanced to the finals for 10 years in a row, and this is the third year FHSU has placed first.

The team received the Career Coach Award, which will provide each team member a one-hour career coaching session from a financial planning expert in addition to $10,000 in scholarship money for the university.