The Lady Miners from Missouri University of Science and Technology are 2009 world champions in mucking.

The Missouri S&T team placed first in the women’s division during the International Intercollegiate Mining Competition April 4 in Butte, Mont. The competition features events that are based on mining techniques used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Students compete in timed events like gold panning, surveying, hand-mucking, hand-steeling, track-standing, Swede sawing and jackleg drilling.
The debris left over from a mining blast is known as a muck pile, and that’s where the term mucking comes from.

Approximately 25 teams from around the world participate in the annual competition. Missouri S&T previously won a world championship in women’s mucking in 2007 and a co-ed team championship in 2008. S&T also won world titles in men’s and women’s mucking in 2004 and 2005.

This year, Missouri S&T’s top rivals in the women’s division were Mackay School of Mines (second place) and Montana Tech (third place). In the men’s division, S&T finished second behind the first-place team from the Western Australian School of Mines.

The competition rotates to one of five locations each year: Butte, Mont.; Kalgoorlie, Australia; Reno, Nev; Rolla, Mo.; and Tucson, Ariz.

Female members of Missouri S&T’s 2009 championship team include: Allyson Finch, a senior in mining engineering from Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; Jill Groeblinghoff, a senior in mining engineering from O’Fallon, Mo.; Maggie Hettinger, a senior in mining engineering from St. Louis; Carolyn Jennings, a senior in mining engineering from Burlington, Iowa; Melody Rea, a senior in aerospace engineering from Overland Park, Kan.; and Jennifer Winston, a senior in mining engineering from Slater, Mo.

Members of the second-place men’s team include: Brandon Ash, a junior in mining engineering from Iberia, Mo.; Matthew Cox, a senior in geological engineering from Overland Park, Kan.; Scott Miettinen, a senior in mining engineering from Smithville, Mo.; Frank Virant, a senior in mining engineering from Rolla; Alex Warren, a senior in mining engineering from St. Joseph, Mo.; Robert Wilkerson, a junior in mining engineering from Rolla; and Tristan Worsey, a senior in mining engineering from Rolla.