WKU News

WKU civil engineering students finished 17^th overall in the 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers’ National Concrete Canoe Competition, held June 20-22 at Clemson University.

WKU finished 17th overall in the 2015 National Concrete Canoe Competition, held June 20-22 at Clemson University.

WKU’s Western Reserve finished 14^th in oral presentation, 14^th in final product and 19^th in design paper. In canoe races, WKU placed ninth in women’s sprint, 14^th in women’s slalom, 13^th in men’s slalom and 13^th in overall race points.

Concrete canoe team members include: co-captains Dylan Jones of Berea and S. Kent Jones of Somerset; Lucas Guinn of Monticello; Andrew Keightley of Destrehan, Louisiana; Jackson Daugherty of Morgantown; Elijah Garcia of Chino Hills, California; Jacob Cowan of Columbia; Michael Pickett of Radcliff; Joe Owle of Cherokee, North Carolina; Thad Billingsley of Scottsville; Clintyn Weimer of Mt. Vernon, Indiana; Nick Beasmore of Lawrenceburg; Rachael Wilson of Elkton; Kayla Frye of Nancy; and Hilary Richards of Johannesburg, South Africa.

“I am incredibly proud of all of these dedicated young men and women,” said Professor Matthew Dettman, concrete canoe team faculty advisor. “They worked hard to make it to the national championships and a top-20 finish is something they can all be very satisfied with. This finish is the result not just of their efforts, but of WKU as a whole. This project takes significant resources and technical assistance from many departments on campus and I greatly appreciate the help everyone provides.”

The University of Florida won the 2015 national competition followed by California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and University of California, Berkeley.

Over the course of the 2014-15 year, 215 teams of civil engineering students logged thousands of hours researching, designing and constructing their concrete canoes in a quest for the winning combination of creativity, knowledge and teamwork to advance to the national competition. WKU advanced to the national competition earlier this spring by winning the Ohio Valley regional competition.

Contact: Department of Engineering, (270) 745-2461