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Concrete Canoe Team Third in the Nation
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June 29, 2005--Michigan Tech's team nabbed a bronze, its best finish ever, at the 18th Annual ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition, held June 25-27 at Clemson University, in South Carolina.
Twenty-one teams had earned the right to compete in the nationwide contest, which is sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
"Our team placed in the top five of all events but one," said civil and environmental engineering professor Neil Hutzler, who attended the event. "I am very proud of them."
The MTU team paddled their lean, mean boat, The MacInnes, to a third-place finish in the co-ed sprint race and came in fourth in the men's sprint, women's sprint and women's endurance events.
Their oral presentation was rated second overall. The teams were judged equally on their presentations, the race results, their design report and their display.
Despite the 1,000-mile trip, the MTU team attracted an enthusiastic cheering section. "Several students' parents, family and friends also attended the competition to cheer the team on," Hutzler said. "It was great to see such support and to be a part of it."
This was Hutzler's first road trip with the concrete canoe team. "What really impressed me was how professionally they behaved," he said. "They dressed professionally, and they behaved professionally. They encouraged all the other teams--I was proud to be associated with them."
When the awards were announced, the students hoped they'd finish near the top, though they knew that the University of Wisconsin at Madison and Clemson had a lock on first and second place. "They announced fifth, and that wasn't us, and then they announced fourth, and we thought, well, maybe we didn't make it.
"And then when they said Michigan Tech was third, we went nuts."
For more on the competition, visit http://www.asce.org/inside/nccc2005/winners.cfm and http://www.cee.mtu.edu/news/concret_canoe_2005.html.
Photo credit: © Bart Boatwright, courtesy of the American Society of Civil Engineers |
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