THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2014
PAGE 7A
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CLUB SPORTS
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
After years of setbacks and challenges, the KU Concrete Canoe team will head to Stillwater, Okla., to participate in the American Society of Civil Engineers Mid-Continent Conference Regional Concrete Canoe Competition.
Concrete canoe team sets sights on regionals
DALTON KINGERY news@kansan.com
When Jeremy Boger first got involved with the KU Concrete Canoe队, he found a program that had accomplished virtually nothing in competition since the mid-90s, with some years going by without the team even competing. Both the lack of detailed records from previous years and information on concrete canoe construction contributed to the challenges the program had to face.
The KU Concrete Canoe team has been around since 1976 and will be competing in the American Society of Civil Engineers Mid-Continent Conference Regional Concrete Canoe Competition from April 24 to April 26. The competition this year takes place at Oklahoma State University and will require the team to design and build a canoe using concrete as the primary material. This is made possible by the concrete mix the teams use, which is designed to have a lower per-unit weight than that of water, improving buoyancy. In addition to this, the competition requires teams to submit presentation materials and race their canoe against other teams.
"We've been trying to document everything," said Boger, a senior from Asheville, N.C., and current captain of the team. "Before, we didn't have much information on past team's canoes, and that's something we're doing differently."
The commitment to documenting as much of the team's
work as possible is one of several ways that the program has changed during Boger's tenure. The team has also developed a reusable canoe mold which should help future teams.
"As a team, we did a really good job this year of building a program that can be sustained from year to year," said co-captain Billy Hirchert, a junior from Washburn, N.D.
One of the most significant changes the team has made to its strategy this year is scheduling weekly practices to prepare for the racing portion of the competition. On most Saturdays, members of the team can be found at Lone Star Lake, southwest of Lawrence, honing their paddling and racing techniques.
"In previous years, our racing performances were mediocre to poor," Boger said. "We had no practice time with the canoe, and moving around a 385-pound canoe is something that you need to practice."
These changes are what have transformed the struggling program into the successful outfit of today, with last year's second-place overall finish at regional competition serving as a sign that the program is ready to be taken seriously.
This year, a second-place finish would likely be a disappointment to a team that has no doubts about where its collective sights are set.
"We want to crush it in the races," Boger said, putting heavy emphasis on crush. "From the beginning our goal has been to win the regional competition and go to the national competition."
The team's new status as one of the top teams in the region is the product of the incredible amount of time that the team members put in over the course of the year, with most members easily clearing the 100-plus hour mark. A handful of members like Boger and Hirchert have logged more than 300 hours of work to prepare the canoe and the team for competition.
"I hadn't really ever sat down and thought about it, but the other day I realized that I had put in over 300 hours," Hirchert said.
These hours, filled with canoe construction and late-night pickups of keys to the engineering school's truck, have served to bring the team closer together to form a close-knit group.
"As a non-traditional student, it's been a great opportunity for me to break the ice with students much younger than me;" Hirchert said.
Knowing that this could be his last year working with the team, Boger shies away from any talk about leaving some sort of lasting legacy on the team he has devoted so much time and energy to.
"I don't know about any legacy. I'm not trying to be Bill Self." Boger said. "I just want people to have a good time building the canoe and really see the connection between what they're building and what they're learning in the classroom."
— Edited by Alec Weaver
LAWRENCE
University students build sustainable community
MADDIE FARBER news@kansan.com
A group of architecture students are helping "build a sustainable future" for their end-of-semester project with an event called Better Block Lawrence this Friday, April 25.
According to its Facebook page, Better Block Lawrence is an event to correspond with this Friday's Final Fridays art walk in Lawrence. Better Block Lawrence is currently engaging local community residents, artists and businesses to help envision a better Ninth Street connecting Massachusetts Street to Pennsylvania Street and the East Lawrence Arts Warehouse District.
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The goal of Better Block Lawrence is to envision what a sustainable community might look like in the Lawrence Arts District, and to give the local community an opportunity to share its vision for its neighborhood.
Matt Kleinmann, a professor of architecture who teaches a class called Designing Sustainable Futures, has been the head of Better Block Lawrence.
"We have really been taking the communities' voice and envisioning what their neighborhood would be," Kleinmann said. "This is an opportunity for students to get their hands dirty and see how sustainability affects their communities other than just learning about it. It's entirely free to participate and will give the most local artists an idea of where it's most advantageous for their business to be on the north side of Ninth Street."
"This is an opportunity for students to get their hands dirty and see how sustainability affects their communities other than just learning about it."
Better Block Lawrence will
MATT KLEINMANN Architecture professor
"I'm excited to see how it turns out," Zahir said. "I've never had a class where we are working towards one larger project. There has been a lot of involvement with the community, but it's mainly the class coordinating the event."
see what Lawrence has to offer, Kleinmann explained.
Marium Zahir, senior from Kansas City, Mo., is an architectural studies student who is working on the Better Block Lawrence project.
give students the chance to experience Final Fridays and
MacKenzie Davis, junior from Lake Forest, Ill., said this has been a fantastic experience for her.
"It's very theoretical and has been a wonderful chance to dive into [sustainable] design," Davis said. "It's also been a wonderful experience to reach out to the community and participate in community involvement."
Better Block Lawrence will be between Ninth and Pennsylvania streets from 6-10 p.m.
- Edited by Blair Sheade
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