Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge teams win regionals

Youngstown State University’s Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge teams continued their winning ways at the Eastern Great Lakes regional competition by taking home two first place finishes.

During the regional competition at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan both teams qualified for their respective national competitions. In addition to scoring first overall, the Steel Bridge team also claimed first place in construction speed, lightness, stiffness, cost estimate, economy, and efficiency. Besides scoring the first overall prize, the Concrete Canoe team earned first place in final product prototype, the men’s slalom race, the women’s slalom race.

This is now the Penguins third consecutive year that both teams came home with the top prize in regionals, beating more than 15 teams including Case Western Reserve University, University of Michigan, Ohio State University, University of Cincinnati, University of Akron and Cleveland State University.

The Steel Bridge team has placed first in five of the last six regional contests, while the Concrete Canoe team has won four of the last five.

The 2023 National Steel Bridge Competition will be held at the University of California – San Diego June 2 and 3, and the National Concrete Canoe Competition will be held at the University of Wisconsin – Platteville between June 10 to June 12.

Last year, the Steel Bridge team placed seventh at nationals, while the Concrete Canoe team placed fourth.

The Steel Bridge team is comprised of members Nathan Chalus, Civil Engineering major, Homestead, Pennsylvania; Zachary Glavic, Civil Engineering, Canfield, Ohio; Jacob Huzyak, STEM First Year Engineering major, North Canton, Ohio; Michael Sandora, Electrical Engineering major, New Castle, Pennsylvania; Marshall Sarisky, Civil Engineering major, Youngstown, Ohio; and Klea Shehu, First Year Engineering major, Tirana, Albania.

The Concrete Canoe members are Bailey Brothag, STEM First Year Engineering major, Youngstown, Ohio; Evan Fink, Engineering major, Strongsville, Ohio; Jersey Gorby, Civil Engineering major, Youngstown, Ohio; Emily Honthy, undecided, Youngstown, Ohio; Alicia Lonsinger, Civil Engineering major, Walhonding, Ohio; Kayla Mathias, STEM First Year Engineering major, Mercer, Pennsylvania; Joe Remish, Civil Engineering, Canfield, Ohio; Michael Sandora, Electrical Engineering major, New Castle, Pennsylvania; Morgan Scott, Civil Engineering major, Hiram, Ohio; Cassandra Snopik, Business Administration major, Mount Gilead, Ohio; Elizabeth Williams, Industrial and Systems Engineering major, Brunswick, Ohio; and Christine Zheng, STEM First Year Engineering major, Youngstown, Ohio.

The Canoe event requires teams to design and construct a seaworthy canoe made entirely of concrete and compete in four categories - design paper, oral presentation, final product and several racing events. The Bridge team develops and builds a scale-model steel bridge that must span approximately 20 feet and carry 2,500 pounds. Teams must determine how to fabricate their bridge and then plan for an efficient assembly under timed construction at the competition.

Anwarul Islam, professor of Civil Engineering, is the faculty advisor of both teams.