04/29/16 dgo

HAYS, Kan. - Three Fort Hays State University seniors teamed up last weekend to finish second in the Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge in Manhattan.

Fort Hays State's project was a mobile air-quality monitor and cell phone app, the only fully functioning prototype and app presented at the competition.

The trio earned $1,500 for its efforts, which the students split equally among them.

Making up the runner-up team were Michaela Diercks, a marketing major from Minneapolis; Cory McCurry, a biology major from Rolla; and Marcos Goncalvas Silva, an exchange student from Brazil taking informatics and computer science courses at FHSU.

A team from the host school, Kansas State University, won the event. It was the second consecutive year that a Fort Hays State team finished second.

Cutline: Winners of the second-place, $1,500 prize at last weekend's Kansas Entrepreneurship Challenge in Manhattan were Fort Hays State University seniors, from left: Michaela Diercks, Minneapolis, Kan.; Cory McCurry, Rolla; and Marcos Goncalvas Silva, Pirangucu, Brazil.