UNL students win regional programming contest

A team of three University of Nebraska-Lincoln computer science and engineering majors took first place in the North Central North America Regional competition Nov. 5 in the IBM-sponsored Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest.

Competing at UNL's Avery Hall, the "Grindor" team of juniors Travis Meinders of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, Yuliy Pisetsky of Omaha and Derrick Stolee of Perham, Minn., triumphed against 181 other teams from 68 colleges and universities that competed at different sites in the region. Grindor was the only team in the region to successfully complete six of the contest's nine problems and qualified for the World Finals April 9-13 in San Antonio, Texas.

Meinders, Pisetsky and Perham are all enrolled in UNL's J.D. Edwards Honors Program in Computer Science and Management, a program designed to develop leaders in information technology and business globalization.

"This competition is called the 'Technology Olympics' and it has become especially interesting in light of the rapid rise of the overseas software industry," said David Keck, director of the J.D. Edwards program. "Last year, the top U.S. team placed 17th at the World Finals and a U.S. team hasn't won since 1997."

It's the fifth time in eight years and the second year in a row that a UNL team has qualified for the World Finals. All of the teams have been coached by Charles Riedesel, senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. Riedesel also took teams to the World Finals in 1999, 2001 and 2002.

The North Central North America Regional includes colleges and universities in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Manitoba and western Ontario. Worldwide, tens of thousands of students from 71 countries were expected to compete in this year's contest. Seventy-five teams will qualify to compete in San Antonio.

CONTACT: Charles Riedesel, Sr. Lecturer, Computer Science & Engineering, (402) 472-3486