MANHATTAN — For the second straight year, a team from the College of Business Administration's student chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management is the first-place winner in the Southwest Regional Conference Case Competition in Phoenix, Ariz.

The competition, which saw the team face off against nine universities from the southwest region, focused on issues related to management practices, recruitment, training, development and employee labor relations.

Team members included: Rebecca Laessig, junior in human resource management, and Craig Ruhl, senior in human resource management, both from Manhattan; Kylie Hardman, freshman in business administration, Topeka; and Sarah Napolitano, senior in human resource management, Wakefield.

The team was accompanied by faculty adviser Valerie Evans, instructor of management.

"I couldn't be more proud of the way the team members represented themselves, the College of Business Administration and Kansas State University," said Evans, who has been the chapter's faculty adviser since 2006. "Team members prepared, worked hard and did a great job."

The competition is in conjunction with the society's regional student conferences, at which teams of up to six undergraduate or graduate students compete and are judged for both oral and written presentations that they've prepared in response to a case that focused on human resource management issues.

With their first-place finish, the team will receive complimentary registration to the national conference of the Society of Human Resource Management, June 21-25, in Orlando, as well as reimbursement for travel expenses.