Here’s a video of our co-ed sprint heat from the canoe races at PSWC 2014, courtesy of captain Jake’s parents. This was the first heat we’ve won in years! Our team took advantage of DiSCovery II’s straight speed and their extensive preparation on their way to qualify for the small final. The coed race consists of two down-and-back laps for a total distance of 400 meters.
Monthly Archives: April 2014
2014-2015 E-Board Nominations
We’ll be opening up nominations for next year’s USC ASCE Executive Board later this week, with voting occurring the following week. Interested in taking on a leadership role? Keep an eye out for the election emails!
PSWC 2014 Results
I’ll start off by putting this into perspective and context. Historically, USC ASCE typically places top-three in one or two events at PSWC. Our 18-school conference, combined with perennial powerhouses in the concrete canoe competition, make our conference one of the most competitive of the 15 in the country.
Last year, our only victory, albeit significant, was our first-place environmental win. This year, going into the awards banquet we didn’t expect much, but were proud of our collective effort.
We started out the awards banquet with a 1st place victory in the Scavenger Hunt competition. Despite having a team less than half the size of many other schools, our focus and determination led us to win one of the most fun events, finding cool spots and landmarks around SDSU’s campus and throughout San Diego.
Steel Bridge won 3rd place in construction speed, completing the construction of their bridge in roughly 18 minutes. They also won 3rd in bridge lightness. Our team ended up placing 3rd overall, earning an invitation to the AISC/ASCE National Steel Bridge Competition in Akron, OH!
Last year, our Concrete Canoe team had their first canoe to successfully survive every race in three years, but placed 14th overall. Despite deductions in the oral presentation and final product categories due to technicalities, the Concrete Canoe team placed 6th overall and won 3rd in design paper!
Our paddling team also did well, placing 7th overall. Highlights included our women’s slalom team placing sixth, our 4-person co-ed team winning their heat, and our men’s sprint team winning the small final by less than a second to place 6th, after missing the big final qualification by only a second.
Considering where we were just a year ago, and the fact that most of this year’s USC ASCE PSWC team were first-time attendees, all of these results are spectacular. But as we were celebrating our successes, we won an award that we never expected: 3rd place overall for the entire conference!
The overall conference rank is determined by summing all of the weighted points earned for each event, including canoe and bridge, the smaller design teams, and the sports tournaments. To win, a school must be well-rounded, participate in every event, and fight to win individual games, even if they don’t win entire sports tournaments. USC ASCE has not placed this high in the overall conference rank since 1994. Our 3rd place finish would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our entire team.
Here’s the event placement breakdown that led to our 3rd-place overall finish:
- Concrete Canoe – 6th
- Steel Bridge – 3rd
- Technical Paper – 5th
- Geotechnical / Geowall – Participated
- Environmental – 5th
- Surveying – 7th
- Impromptu & Mystery – Participated
- Family Feud Quiz – T5th
- Basketball – T5th
- Volleyball – Participated
- Ultimate Frisbee – T5th
- Tug of War – Participated
- Kan Jam (2 teams) – T5th, Participated
- Scavenger Hunt – 1st
- Concrete Bowling – Participated
PSWC 2014 Event Point Distribution
This year, we proved that just because we have a smaller department, fewer resources, and less manpower than other schools doesn’t mean that we can’t be successful. Let’s celebrate our victories, analyze our weaknesses, and come back next year ready to take 1st!
PSWC 2014: Scavenger Hunt
Here are some of the pictures that got our PSWC 2014 Scavenger Hunt Team 1st Place!
PSWC 2014 Day 3: Steel Bridge
The Steel Bridge competition is one of the most exciting to watch, as schools race to assemble their bridge as quickly as possible, before applying loads and testing the deflections. There are countless deductions and possible disqualifications that the teams must avoid, and it isn’t uncommon for over one-third of the teams to be disqualified. Overall, our steel bridge team had a great competition this year, despite failing the lateral load test.
Wheeling the bridge box to the competition. All of the pieces and tools must fit within a certain area. 
The non-bridge-team-members prepare to cheer the team on. 
Co-captain Daniel’s ready to assemble a bridge! 
Last-minute team strategizing. 
Getting ready to compete. 
2014 Steel Bridge Team 
2014 Steel Bridge Team 
Team huddle. 
Bridge team huddle. 
The judges ensure that the team understands the competition setup. 
With the clock started, Daniel runs pieces of the bridge to the other team members. 
Only the runner can bring things to the people assembling the bridge. 
Meanwhile, the rest of the team begins assembling the bridge, section by section. 
Daniel runs another piece of steel to the bridge site. 
The bridge trusses are held together with bolts. 
The bolts and drills also have to be run to the assemblers, who hold onto them. 
The team practices extensively so that the assembly is like clockwork on the day of the competition. 
Piece by piece, the bridge takes shape. 
Only the runner is allowed to leave the bridge area. 
The timing and sequence of each piece’s arrival is critical to a quick construction time. 
Bridge in the water: the front right column is touching the tape on the ground, signifying that the bridge is in the water and adding a time penalty. 
Working together to assemble the bridge, piece by piece. 
Daniel’s still running… 
Assembling the bridge is definitely a team effort. 
Initially, all of the bolts are put in loosely by hand, then they’re later tightened with drills. 
The bridge assembly is complete! 
The captains inspect the bridge for loose bolts and incorrectly placed pieces. 
The judges review the time deductions from the bridge assembly process. 
Winston prepares to make a repair, which costs extra time at a much higher rate. 
Bridge assembly team with the assembled bridge. 
Bridge assembly competition team. 
Good job bridge team! 
Carrying the bridge to be weighed. 
Carrying the bridge from the assembly area to the weighing and loading area. 
Preparing to weigh our bridge. 
Weighing our bridge. 
The lateral load test. 
The lateral load test. 
It looks like our deflection is considerably too large to pass the lateral load test. 
We failed the lateral load test, resulting in a large financial penalty (much of the competition is scored on cost). Fortunately, this only effects certain parts of the competition. 
Everyone helps disassemble the bridge after the competition. 
Disassembling the bridge.
PSWC 2014 Day 3: Awards Banquet
At the PSWC Awards Banquet, all of the conference attendees gather for a nice dinner and to celebrate their victories at PSWC. We went in expecting to place top-three in maybe one of the smaller events. But we came out with our best year overall since 1994, placing 3rd overall thanks to the hard work of our entire team. Check out the details of our results here.
Scavenger Hunt – 1st Place Acceptance 
Steel Bridge – 3rd Place Overall Acceptance 
Full Concrete Canoe results sheet 
USC – 3rd place overall! 
USC ASCE: PSWC 2014 3rd Place Overall Celebration 
USC ASCE: PSWC 2014 3rd Place Overall Celebration 
Our President, Elise, with our PSWC 2014 3rd Place Overall Award 
Our President, VP, and Advisor with our PSWC 2014 3rd Place Overall Plaque 
Steel Bridge Team: 3rd Place Overall 
Steel Bridge Team: 3rd place in Lightness and Construction Speed 
Our 1st-place-winning Scavenger Hunt Team 
2014 USC ASCE PSWC Team, with our awards! 
President’s speech after the ceremony.
PSWC 2014 GIF
PSWC 2014 Day 3: Ultimate Frisbee
Our Ultimate Frisbee team won its first game, earning us 25 PSWC Points!
PSWC 2014 Day 3: Concrete Bowling
Our concrete bowling team created a Wilson-themed bowling ball, only to discover that two other schools had the same theme. Next year we’ll be more creative! It bowled well, resulting in a respectable showing.
2014 Concrete Bowling Team 
Preparing to throw the concrete bowling ball. 
The bowling lane. It was slightly uphill. 
A successful first throw. 
Rolling the ball, made difficult by the lack of finger holes. 
Tedman throws the ball. 
Kelvin lines up his throw. 
Concrete bowling throw windup. 
It looks like he’s going to give it a nice gentle roll, but that won’t work. 
A bouncing approach to concrete bowling. 
Another successful throw! 
Last official throw. 
Non-bowling team members had a lot more trouble – guess the practice worked! 
Some of us have more acrobatic concrete bowling techniques than others.
PSWC 2014 Day 3: Geotechnical Competition
Our geotech team had a pretty successful competition, with their wall holding through all but one loading test.
Drawing out the reinforcement scheme. 
Measurements for reinforcement placement. 
Build team ready to go. 
Team huddle. 
Measuring & cutting reinforcing strips. 
Measuring reinforcing paper. 
Measuring reinforcing paper. 
Loading the box & building the wall. 
Sand, ready to be loaded into the wall. 
Packing the sand in. 
Loading sand into the box. 
Build complete! 
Applying the external loads. 
The wall’s holding! 
“Let’s do this” 
