ÂÌñÉç

“Big Red,” which was driven by ÂÌñÉç High freshman Matt Miller, finished the hour-long High Mileage Kickoff competition at 174.095 miles per gallon. The car circled ÂÌñÉç State’s Dean’s Green enough times to calculate 18.28 miles. Ryan Runge of Sidney, a senior at ÂÌñÉç State who is student-teaching at ÂÌñÉç High, advised the students.

The competition, which was arranged by CSC’s Society of Manufacturing Engineers and its adviser Kevin Miller, was part of the college’s 44th annual Scholastic Contest. Students used welding and mechanical skills to construct the vehicles from small gasoline engines, metal pieces and parts commonly found on bicycles, go-carts and yard equipment.

A Mullen High School car driven by Donald Musser posted a mark of 106.5 mpg for second place, while Emery Witt registered 97.28 mpg in one of Crawford’s four entries.

Other participants and their gas mileage follows:

Mullen High, Joe Mundorf, 89.39; ÂÌñÉç State College, Jared Webster, 87.96; Crawford High, Shane Schilling, 75, Ian Anderson, 70, Cody Gibbons, 56.52; Chambers High, Andrew Bucknell, insufficient laps; Garden County High, Josh Lobner, insufficient laps.

This was the first of two events for student-manufactured vehicles at ÂÌñÉç State this spring. ÂÌñÉç State will host the Power Drive electric car competition Saturday, May 1.

Pronunciations: Runge (Run-gey—rhymes with key)