Canoe Team Wins Regional Contest

April 30, 2012

UT Tyler Office of Marketing and Communications

UT Tyler Concrete Canoe Team Takes Top Honors at Regional Competition

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April 30, 2012

Media Contact:  Hannah Buchanan
Editor/Writer–Strategic Communications & Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.539.7196 (cell)

April 30, 2012

The University of Texas at Tyler won the 2012 American Society of Civil Engineering Texas-Mexico Regional Concrete Canoe Competition, Dr. James Nelson, College of Engineering and Computer Science dean, announced.

With this year’s canoe entry, “Ace in the Hull,” the UT Tyler ASCE Student Chapter placed first overall in competition out of 12 teams, besting University of Houston, Texas Tech University, Texas A&M University, UT Austin, Rice University and UT El Paso.

This is UT Tyler’s second overall first place finish in five years.

At the annual competition, participants build canoes with concrete and are judged in four categories: technical design report, oral design presentation, canoe final product and racing.

“Months before the event, word reached us that other schools thought that UT Tyler was the team to beat in this competition, and our team earned that high opinion through their hard work and technical prowess,” said Dr. Michael McGinnis, faculty adviser.

The UT Tyler team placed first in oral presentation and overall canoe quality as well as second for their technical design report. They also accumulated the most points in the racing events by finishing first in the co-ed sprint race, third in both the women’s and men’s sprint races and second in the women’s and men’s endurance races.

Team captains are Michael Lisk, Houston junior; and seniors Jeremy Orr of Mount Enterprise, Chris Wall of Marietta, Joseph Hornisher of Denton and Art Reilly of Tyler.

Other students representing UT Tyler were:

• Seniors: Jared Kowis of Pearland, Michelle Holloman of Big Sandy, Neda Hosseiny of Dallas, Jennifer Moore of League City, Theodore Booth of Garland, Justin Nesmith of Wylie, Jesus Morteo of Pinehurst and Randy Taylor of Henderson.

• Juniors: Jennifer King of Victoria, Alex McMillan of Palestine, James Mitchell of Overton, Austin Sparks of Mount Vernon, Marco Weidmer of Hallsville and Tyler Richards of Tyler.
• Sophomores: Bobby Fuller of Longview and Erin Hostetler of Austin.

McGinnis and Dr. Torey Nalbone, UT Tyler associate professor of civil engineering, also attended in support of the team.

Currently serving more than 125 students, the UT Tyler Department of Civil Engineering offers both bachelor of science and master of science in civil engineering degrees.

For more information, call 903.566.7273.

One of the 15 campuses of the UT System, UT Tyler offers excellence in teaching, research, artistic performance and community service. More than 80 undergraduate and graduate degree programs are available at UT Tyler, which has an enrollment of almost 7,000 high-ability students at its campuses in Tyler, Longview and Palestine.