Cal Poly’s Concrete Canoe Team Takes Second Overall, First Place in Final Product at National Competition
SAN LUIS OBISPO — Cal Poly’s concrete canoe team finished second overall at the recent National Concrete Canoe Competition held at the Florida Institute of Technology.
Cal Poly, the reigning champion the previous two years, took first in the final product category while winning four of the five races at the Melbourne, Florida, event. The team was edged out in two other key parts of the competition: design paper (third) and oral presentation (fourth), both won by this year’s champion, The University of Florida.
The University of Florida had previously finished in second both in 2017 and 2018, just behind Cal Poly, which has won first place five times since 2010.
“I am so proud of the team and everything that we accomplished this year,” said Mason Breipohl, Cal Poly’s project manager, a civil engineering senior from Elk Grove, California. “We had a smaller team this year, so every team member played a huge role in the project. The team worked countless hours and embraced challenges along the way to continue the Cal Poly Concrete Canoe Team legacy. This project was a truly rewarding experience, and we will forever cherish the growth, achievements, and friendships.”
The team captains, all civil engineering seniors from California, included: (design) Yin “Jerry” Ding of San Luis Obispo and Beijing, and Michael Romano of Modesto; and (construction) Jason Johnson of Alameda, Eleni Korogianos of Long Beach, Jonathan Mahmoud of Albany and Lauren Tigue of Placerville. In addition, Derek Fromm, a mechanical engineering senior from Seattle, Breipohl, Korogianos and Tigue paddled the canoe.
The competition, which has been called “The America’s Cup of Civil Engineering,” features teams of students from the United States and beyond that have created canoes made of concrete. Cal Poly advanced to the nationals after winning the Pacific Southwest regionals on its home turf and at Lake Nacimiento in April.
In addition to taking top spot in Overall Presentation, Cal Poly won races in both the men’s and women’s slalom competition, the women’s sprint and the co-ed sprint. The men’s race team finished in second in the sprint category just .38 of a second behind Canada’s Université Laval.
Cal Poly competed with its canoe, titled Yggdrasil, named after a mythical tree in Norse cosmology. The boat weighed 183 pounds and measured 19.3 feet.
Cal Poly won the nationals in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2017 and 2018.
This year’s top five were the University of Florida, Cal Poly, Université Laval, Tongji University and Western Kentucky University. The event was held June 6-8.
From left: Derek Fromm, Lauren Tigue, Eleni Korogianos and Mason Breipohl.
From left: Mason Breipohl, Eleni Korogianos, Lauren Tigue and Derek Fromm
In the photo at top, the Cal Poly Concrete Canoe Team celebrates after winning the regional qualifier in April. From left: Derek Fromm, Jonathan Mahmoud, Eleni Korogianos, Mason Breipohl, Lauren Tigue, Jason Johnson and Yin “Jerry” Ding. The team finished second in the national competition held June 6-8 in Florida. Paddlers:
Contact: Pat Pemberton
805-756-7402, 805-235-0555
ppembert@calpoly.edu
June 13, 2019