After just five years of
participation in the American Society of Civil Engineers Great Lakes
Regional Conference, the UE student chapter of ASCE qualified for the
national concrete canoe competition for the first time in the school's
history. The competition will be held in Clemson, SC, June 25-27,
2005. Led by senior Julie Elpers, Aces Concrete Canoe raced their
21-foot long, 177-lb canoe, Lembus Durus, in Chicago, IL, on
April 22, battling not only nine other schools, but also the
near-freezing temperatures, rain and strong winds. The civil
engineering students of the University of Evansville came in second
place overall in the regional canoe competition and will join the
first-place University of Wisconsin-Madison, the national champions for
the past two years, for a trip to nationals. UE beat out Purdue
University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of
Illinois-Chicago, Milwaukee School of Engineering, University of
Southern Indiana, Bradley University, University of Notre Dame and
Tri-State University.
The civil
engineering students were inspired by the Roman tradition of pioneering
developments in concrete and structures and chose to christen their 2005
canoe, Lembus Durus, the boat that endures or the tough
boat. The name proved to be prophetic because after several grueling
races the concrete canoe showed no signs of cracking. The paddling team
of Brain Meunier (freshman CE), Nick Waninger (sophomore CE), Kerry Hall
(senior CE), Blair Bozoarth (freshman CE), Amy Lochmondy (senior CE),
Amanda Ranck (sophomore CE), Jennifer Blankenship (sophomore CE) and
Julie Elpers combined to take second place overall in the races. Events
included 600-meter men's and women's endurance/slalom races and
200-meter sprint races for two-man, two-woman, and four-person coed
teams. Because of the inclement weather, the final heats were cancelled
and overall race standings were determined by the preliminaries.
The races
counted only one-quarter of the final score, with the remaining tally
determined by a design report, a five-minute oral presentation, and the
workmanship of the actual canoe. Students started working on this
year's canoe last summer with goal-setting, research, development,
testing, design, construction, fundraising and paddling practice
conducted throughout the year. The canoe was "unveiled" for the first
time to the public on Wednesday, April 21st, in the Carson
Center swimming pool, the night before the ASCE students traveled up to
Chicago.
The national
concrete canoe competition will have approximately 25 canoes from the 20
student regions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, with
invitations given to the Canadian and Mexican national champions as
well. There are approximately 200 civil engineering schools across the
United States, some of whom compete in concrete canoe year after year.
The national competition started in 1988 and is sponsored by the
American Society of Civil Engineers and by Master-Builders Technology.
The University of Evansville, one of the smallest schools in the
region, has been competing \ since 2001, steadily improving since
finishing eighth out of eight in their first outing, climbing to fifth
out of ten in their second year, placing third in the year that UE
hosted the conference, and placing third again in last year's
conference.
The team
members included Julie Elpers, Kerry Hall, Rachel Wright, Amanda Ranck,
Blair Bozoarth, Tyler Tackett, Brian Fillenwarth, Matt Melton, Jennifer
Blankenship, Russ Keller, Jon Longenecker, Jody Chapman, Brian Meunier,
Amy Lochmondy, Nick Waninger, Jason Mathias, Brenton Hasenour, John
Hunt, Brent Schmitt, Mohamed Al-Ameri, Rebekah Campbell, Michael Cook,
Josh Culver, Jaclyn Foote, Drew Flamion, Dave Haas, Craig Kerkhoff,
Lindsey Lenker, Ryan Sermesheim, and Larry Summers. The concrete canoe
project is advised by Dr. Mark Valenzuela, Assistant Professor of Civil
Engineering. The student chapter of the American Society of Civil
Engineers at UE is advised by Mr. Chris Gwaltney, Associate Professor of
Civil Engineering. Both accompanied the students to the regional
conference, which also included events such as the steel bridge,
environmental, technical paper, balsawood tower, and concrete baseball
bat competitions. The conference was hosted by the student chapters of
the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of
Illinois-Chicago.
In the
concrete baseball bat, a tradition started at UE in 2003, junior civil
engineering student Devan Welch captured first place with teammate
fellow junior Ryan Sermersheim with a bat weighing in at 6 lbs. After
twelve hits, the bat showed no signs of cracking. Devan's 292-foot hit
dominated the competition and beat out Marquette University and the
Milwaukee School of Engineering to take first.
