Bowling Green, Ky. - For the sixth time in seven years, Western Kentucky University has finished in the top 10 in the National Concrete Canoe Competition.

WKU’s “Topper Chopper” placed eighth overall in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 19th annual event held June 15-17 at Oklahoma State University.

Concrete canoe faculty adviser Matt Dettman, the James D. Scott Professor of Civil Engineering, said six top 10 finishes in seven years “puts us in good company with some of the top engineering programs in the United States.”

The competition combines five races (distance and sprint) and academic portions (technical design paper, oral presentation and final product). Results for WKU were: fifth, final product; eighth, design paper; second, men’s sprint; second, men’s distance; fourth, coed sprint; and ninth, women’s distance.

In addition, the competition features an unscored award for a team that incorporates innovative concepts into the canoe’s design and construction. For the first time, WKU students won the innovation award for the use of lightweight, high-strength reinforcement that dramatically increased the canoe’s strength while decreasing its weight.

This year’s top 10 teams (out of a field of 23) in the 2006 ASCE National Concrete Canoe Competition teams were: University of Wisconsin-Madison; California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo; Clemson University; University of California, Berkeley; Michigan Technological University; University of Nevada, Reno; University of Alabama in Huntsville; WKU; University of Wisconsin-Platteville; and Drexel University.

After 14 years as the team’s primary adviser, Dettman is passing those duties onto civil engineering faculty members Shane Palmquist and Warren Campbell and will serve as a team consultant. “I have enjoyed every second of the past 14 years working with students on the canoe,” Dettman said. “We have gone from last in the regionals in our first year to a perennial national top 10. While the students change each year, the one constant was always Western and our great faculty and staff. It has been a great ride.”

The team has won the Ohio Valley Regional title for 11 straight years and finished fourth in the nation in 2002.

Concrete canoe team members include Kevin Collignon of Philpot; Matt Stone, Cody Humble, Heath Crawford, Sarah Kohler and Jason Wilson, all of Bowling Green; Ben Cox of Hardinsburg; Kal Vencill, Eric Broomfield and Jon Allen, all of Richmond; Christian Crear of Clarksville, Tenn.; Brian Ferguson of Greensburg; Bryan Phillips of Glasgow; David Erickson of Hopkinsville; Parker Sloan of Shawnee Mission, Kan.; Ben Matthews of Alvaton; Catie Gay of Evansville, Ind.; Kelly Stolts of Nashville, Tenn.; Stacey Tinius of Owensboro.

More information on WKU’s concrete canoe team is available at http://www.wku.edu/engineering/canoe/home.htm. For information on the 2006 concrete canoe national competition, visit http://www.asce.org/inside/nccc2006/index.cfm

More WKU news is available at www.wku.edu. If you’d like to receive WKU news via e-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

For information, contact Engineering Department at (270) 745-2461.

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