By GRANT GUGGISBERG
K-State News Service
MANHATTAN — The Kansas State University concrete canoe team will compete at the 35th annual American Society of Civil Engineers' Concrete Canoe Competition finals after a second-place finish at the regional Mid-America Student Symposium in May.
The competition, which will feature 19 qualifiers from 10 regions, runs Friday through Sunday on the campus of Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La.
The competition challenges teams to create a functioning canoe made of concrete. The process includes designing a hull, performing structural analysis and finally designing a concrete mixture that satisfies the strength requirements found in the structural analysis. Teams are judged for their final product, design paper, oral presentation and race finishes. Races include men's and women's sprints and endurance races.
The canoes are also built around a theme, with K-State choosing Triton's Trireme as its theme for 2022.
"As a team, we feel honored to represent K-State at the competition," said Maddie Akers, senior in civil engineering and geology. "Seeing our hard work pay off has been a tremendous reward."
Hunter Meier, senior in civil engineering, said the team bonded as it prepared for regional competition on the Iowa State University campus in Ames, Iowa.
"Our team had grown close during the weeks and months leading up to the competition in Ames," he said. "To advance to the national competition in Ruston will further solidify this bond and we look forward to competing again next year."
Christopher Jones, Wallis-Lage Family Cornerstone teaching scholar and associate professor in the civil engineering department at K-State, is the team's faculty advisor.
Members of the K-State ASCE Concrete Canoe team include the following students:
Hunter Prochaska, junior in civil engineering, Beloit; Aidan Torrez, sophomore in civil engineering, Bucyrus.
From Greater Kansas City: Luke Vohs, senior in civil engineering, Lenexa; Isabelle McCann, senior in civil engineering, Mission; Quinn Underwood, senior in civil engineering, Overland Park; and Amelia Mullin, senior in architectural engineering, Shawnee.
Hunter Meier, senior in civil engineering, Lincoln; Dalton Willbrant, May 2022 graduate in civil engineering, Manhattan; Lindsay Schupp, freshman in general engineering, Oskaloosa; Cody Meyer, junior in civil engineering, Sabetha; Nathan Streeter, sophomore in civil engineering, Salina; Abbi Clark, junior in civil engineering, Wamego; and Kisan Patel, senior in civil engineering, Wichita.
From out of state: Ben Garnmeister, junior in civil engineering, Arlington Heights, Illinois; Kayleigh Bednar, sophomore in industrial engineering, Kansas City, Missouri; Ciara Hogsett, May 2022 graduate in civil engineering, Willow Springs, Missouri;andMaddie Akers, senior in civil engineering, Omaha, Nebraska.