Computer students compete at programming contest

Three teams from Concordia participated at the annual ACM North Central North America Regional Programming Contest sponsored by IBM at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. This is the third year Concordia students have participated in the event.

The Just Turing team included seniors Katie Bergt, Fairmont, Minn., and Taylor Friedel, Warren, Mich., and junior Cory Prelerson, Papillion, Neb. The br-ENIAC team was made up of Milford, Neb., brothers, sophomore Jacob and senior Josiah Krings and senior Matthew Schranz, Utica, Neb. Marcus Gubanyi, Seward junior, Matt Olson, Cape Girardeau, Mo. senior and Daniel Klinge, State Center, Iowa senior were members of the Phenoms.

For the contest each team receives a packet of ten challenging problems. During the next five hours, the teams write programs to solve the problems and submit the programs for judging. The team that solves the most problems during the time frame takes the prize and proceeds to the international competition, this year in Warsaw, Poland.

By halfway through the contest, Concordia’s Phenoms had solved enough problems to vie for second place in the competition.  By the time the contest had ended, however, none of the Concordia teams placed.

Despite their finishes, Dr. Russell Mosemann, professor of computer science and coach for teams, was pleased with the effort.

“Each year the Concordia teams have performed better than the previous year,” said Mosemann. “This contest is a great experience for the teams.”

More than 200 teams representing colleges and universities across Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, upper Michigan, Manitoba and western Ontario were involved.