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The Spartan Spanners' quick bridge building skills will send them to national competition

April 16, 2015

For the third year in a row, the Spartan Spanners, a team that competitively builds steel bridges, won in regional competition. 

Many students outside the engineering major likely have never heard of the student steel bridge competition or the hard work it entails. 

The bridge competition takes months and months of preparation for a project that usually takes just under 15 minutes. The bridges that are built get judged on many different factors including economy, lightness, appearance and measures of strength and ability.

"The toughest obstacle is when we have obstacles in front of our buildings that we can't touch," team captain Eric Kamps said.

Not only did the Spartans win in the 2015 North Central Student Steel Bridge Competition, they had the lightest and most structurally efficient bridge, along with being second in construction speed and economy. 

Their competition included nine other universities from Michigan and Northern Ohio, but the Spartans came out on top.

With the win in regionals, the Spartans will advance to the national competition, which takes place at the University of Missouri in late May. MSU will be joined by Michigan Tech, who took second place in the regional competition. 

"I'm very proud of the team. It's been an honor and pleasure to work with them," advisor Frank Hartfield said. 

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