UNL students place high in regional programming contest

Two University of Nebraska-Lincoln teams placed in the top six at the regional qualifying competition of the Association for Computing Machinery's International Collegiate Programming contest on Nov. 3 in Lincoln. Overall, UNL teams placed fourth, sixth, 15th, 29th, 35th and 89th out of 210 teams.

Members of fourth-place team, "Go Big Red!", are Florian Wendland, of Rostock, Germany; Joe Schulman of Kalona, Iowa; and Zach Miller of Aurora, Neb. Sixth place went to the "Incendiary Pigs," a team of sophomores: Tyler Lemburg of Dannebrog, Tim Echtenkamp of Cairo and Steve Trout of Batavia, Ill.

The top seven regional teams placing at the competition were from (in order): Wisconsin-Madison, Michigan Tech, Iowa State, UNL, South Dakota Mines, UNL and Lawrence.

The team from Wisconsin-Madison is guaranteed an invitation to the World Finals in Banff, Alberta, April 6-10. Depending on the strength of the region, additional teams may be invited as wild cards.

"In recent years three teams have been invited, so it appears extremely likely that Iowa State will go," said Chuck Riedesel, senior lecturer in computer science and engineering and coach for UNL's competing teams. "Considering the closeness and power of the top four, I am hopeful that UNL's Go Big Red team will also receive an invitation."

From thousands of teams competing in regional contests held from September to December 2007 worldwide, 90 teams will advance to the World Finals. Awards, prizes, scholarships, and bragging rights will be at stake for some of the world's most talented computing science and engineering students.

CONTACT: Charles Riedesel, Senior Lecturer, Computer Science and Engineering, (402) 472-3486