UTSA Concrete Canoe Team Competes at Nationals in San Diego

The University of Texas at San Antonio's student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers made their fifth consecutive appearance at Nationals, held this year in San Diego.

The team qualified with their first place finish in regional competition held last March at Boerne Lake.

In San Diego, UTSA went up against some of the best teams in the nation including Clemson University, the two-time defending champion in the concrete canoe competition.

The winning team earns a $5,000 scholarship from Master Builders, Inc., the event's sole sponsor. Master Builders also awards $2,500 and $1,500 dollars in scholarship money for the teams that finish in second and third place.

The University of Alabama took first place honors for the fifth time since the competition started in 1988. Clemson University was second and Oklahoma State finished third.

While UTSA did not finish among the top ten teams, they were able to qualify for nationals in March by defeating ten teams at the regional level. The team is to be commended for their enthusiasm for participating in the competition. Many of the student athletes made their own travel arrangements or made the long drive to San Diego.

Dwight Henderson, interim dean of engineering, said, "This is a dedicated group of students that participate in this, over and above their academic courses. Although some give course credit, many universities actually award credit for working on this project and many spend more money, but ours function without credit and limited budget, and end up being competititve."

Henderson also wished to thank Dr. Manuel Diaz who served as the faculty representative who made the trip to San Diego, and civil engineering faculty member Dan Hogenauer, who has helped the squad for many years with design and construction of the canoe.