Tri-C Places Second Nationally at 2025 NCLC

Christine Kermond finishes second overall among individual competitors

CLEVELAND — Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C^®) once again raked in honors at the 2025 National Collegiate Landscape Competition (NCLC).

Tri-C's Plant Science and Landscape Technology team took second place overall, and student Christine Kermond came in second among 727 students in individual honors. Organized by the National Association of Landscape Professionals, the annual competition challenges students in 30 individual or group events to demonstrate their skills in landscape design, plant and tree care, irrigation and more.

Kermond is a second-year student pursuing an Associate of Applied Science in the Plant Science and Landscape Technology program through the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Tri-C also won five event championships during the competition, held March 18 – 22 at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. The College placed in the top four in 11 events.

Top performers for Tri-C were:

• Zach Davis, 3D exterior landscape design, first place
• Aster Klingensmith, annual and perennial identification, first place
• Tuguldur Chuluunbaatar and Jesse O'Brien, irrigation assembly, first place
• Kiira Olszko, irrigation design, first place
• Christine Kermond, small engine repair, first place
• Melissa Dougherty, turf and weed identification, second place
• Allie Cerny, interior landscape design, third place
• Adam Farraj, interior plant identification, third place
• Hannah Gordon and Kermond, safety first, third place
• Olivia Mitnick, turf and weed identification, fourth place
• Mariah Jones, woody and ornamental plant identification, fourth place

"For many of our students, this is their first foray into the industry, and their success shows their dedication to their professional and academic development," said Jim Funai, Ph.D., an assistant professor in Tri-C's program since 2009. "I could not be prouder of their hard work."

Two years ago, the College took first place overall at NCLC, becoming just the third community college to win the competition, and has finished in the top 10 each year since 2014. Tri-C had the top overall student in 2014 (Hayden Angelotta), 2019 (Frank Vareska), 2022 (Peyton Musgrave), 2023 (Keith Rush) and 2024 (Caleb Kautz).

Funai and Lori Zatroch, the program director, have guided the College's Plant Science and Landscape Technology program to become the best two-year program in the nation, routinely placing alongside or above programs from large four-year universities in national competitions such as NCLC.

Tri-C will host NCLC in 2027, marking the fourth time the event will take place in Ohio.

Learn more about NCLC and view the final results.

March 28, 2025

MEDIA CONTACT: Anthony Moujaes, 216-987-3068 or anthony.moujaes@tri-c.edu