April 2, 1997 Three University of Oregon business students will vie for the $12,500 first-place prize this month at the international Moot Corp business competition at Austin, Texas. Steve Manning, Billy Nerenberg and Brian Schwarz, who are enrolled in the UO master of business administration program, this summer will launch a national business to control and eradicate non-native plants. Moot Corp sponsors were so impressed by the trio's business plan, which placed second in the 1997 New Venture Competition hosted by the UO Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship, they invited the team to compete in the international meet. The UO team will face stiff opposition from the likes of Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth. They'll also go up against national business champions from Australia, German and Great Britain. Manning, Nerenberg and Schwarz are the first UO students ever invited to compete at Moot Corp, but Lundquist Center Director Mark Lange says they won't be the last. SOURCE: Mark Lange, director, UO Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship, (541) 346-3312; e-mail, mlange@oregon.uoregon.edu -30- #T-1142/Day