Bowling Green, Ky. - The “Topper Chopper” carried Western Kentucky University’s concrete canoe team to its 11th straight Ohio Valley Regional title and into next month’s national competition.

The WKU concrete canoe team placed first in academics and won all five canoe race events at the April 28-30 competition at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College in Cincinnati.

WKU engineering students also competed in the steel bridge and surveying events at the Ohio Valley Regional. The steel bridge team placed first in aesthetics and fourth overall while the surveying team placed first in the plumb bob event.

Concrete canoe faculty adviser Matt Dettman, the James D. Scott Professor of Civil Engineering, said this year’s competition was the closest ever as WKU edged Youngstown State to advance to the 2006 National Concrete Canoe Competition June 15-17 at Oklahoma State University.

“As much of the competition includes technical writing, public speaking and critical thinking, this is a tribute to the entire WKU community in producing such fine students,” Dettman said. “I know we have a long track record of winning this event, but that in no way diminishes the effort and achievement of these students. Each year is a fresh start, new rules, new competition, and of course a new canoe.”

WKU’s concrete team placed 10th in the nation last year and has finished in the top 10 five of the past six years including fourth in 2002.

Other competitors in the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) Ohio Valley Regional Conference included Ohio State, Kentucky, Cincinnati, Carnegie Mellon, Dayton and Cincinnati State.

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

Steel bridge team members include Tony Kelly of Brandenburg; Adam Evans of Monticello; Chad Doughty of Woodbury; Justin Young of Morgantown; Scott Embry and Sarah Kohler, both of Bowling Green; and Austin Shields of Lexington. Assistant professor Doug Schmucker is the team adviser.

Surveying team members include Bryan Phillips of Glasgow; Brian Ferguson and Brandon Bagby, both of Greensburg.

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

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.

This release includes a list of student participants. For information, contact Engineering Department at (270) 745-2461.

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