One of the two teams representing Manhattan High at the Eco-Meet at Milford Lake Nature Center last Wednesday took third place overall, automatically qualifying them for state.

Science teacher Noah Busch, who has been the team’s sponsor on and off for seven years, took two teams to the annual regional event. Juniors Alex Anderson and Payton Day and freshmen Sarah Phillips and Braden Sanneman were on the state-qualifying team, which had a skit where the students dressed up as their chosen animals: a crayfish, a salamander, a bobcat and a snapping turtle.

“Basically [the theme] was Kansas’s Got Talent… we had three other animals as contestants. In the end, I ate the winner,” said junior Alex Andreson. “There was a bobcat and I was like ‘ugh get out of here [because] I eat… fish,’ and then there was a crayfish and that’s who I ate in the end.”

The skit the team performed wasn’t complete without some critter farce.

“I’m like making funny puns [and] I say ‘round of appetizers — I mean, have a round of applause for our contestants,’ because I’m trying to eat them.”

An Eco-Meet can be attended by anyone who loves the outdoors. The second team was made up completely of freshmen including Nayomi Wong, Paulo Tolention, Samuel Wenhold and Erika Boyer with some help from T.J. Teide. The meet lasted a whole day and included a scavenger hunt, several tests and the group skit performance.

“The Kansas Eco-Meet is a competition for students who enjoy the outdoors,” Busch said. “Maybe they liked to catch critters when they were younger.”

Out all the students that went to regionals, Day placed first in the herpetology test. By taking first in the test, Day automatically qualified for state, should she choose to go. The test was specifically over the zoology branch that covers amphibians and reptiles.

“I got really excited. There was a plains Hog-nosed snake there and it’s like my favorite snake,” junior Payton Day said. “I like the scavenger hunt.”

The scavenger hunt wasn’t the only thing Day liked; she also had a favorite line from the skits.

“Some of the skits we watched, they’re saying how like there’s a turtle and he was being really mean and they said it was cold-blooded of him to do it, because he’s cold-blooded.”

The Eco-Meet provided Manhattan High students with the opportunity to have a good time while enjoying the natural environment they are so passionate about.