Men’s and women’s mucking teams from Missouri University of Science and Technology will host the 36th annual Intercollegiate Mining Competition April 2-6, in Rolla. Forty-two teams from the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada and the United Kingdom will compete in the events.

Members of 2012 mucking teams practice at the S&T Experimental Mine Facility. That year the women’s mucking teams placed first and third at the competition held at Camborne School of Mines in the United Kingdom.

Coed and women’s teams will compete beginning at 8 a.m. on Friday, April 4, at Missouri S&T’s Experimental Mine on Bridge School Road. Men’s and alumni teams will compete on Saturday, April 5, beginning at 8 a.m., at the mine.

This year, six teams from Missouri S&T will compete. Last year, S&T’s women’s team lost a first-place tie-breaker to Colorado School of Mines to place second. The S&T men’s team A placed third and the university’s alumni teams placed first and third in their respective divisions. In 2012, S&T’s two women’s teams placed first and third, and the men’s team A placed second.

A muck pile is the debris left over from a mining blast. Mucking events 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.

First held in 1978, the games were created to honor 91 miners who died in a fire at Idaho’s Sunshine Mine in 1972. The competition celebrates traditional mining practices and helps create a global community of mining students. Mining colleges and universities around the world rotate hosting the International Intercollegiate Mining Games. Last year’s games were held at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colo.

Members of the Missouri S&T coed team are:

• Clayton Mears, a freshman in mining engineering from Portage, Ohio
• Tom Merker, a senior in mining engineering from Manalapan, N.J.
• Ali Rader, a senior in mining engineering from Cheyenne, Wyo.
• Caleb Schwab, a junior in mining engineering from Jackson, Wis.
• Julie Smith, a junior in mining engineering from St. Charles, Mo.
• Katherine Stockdale, a senior in geological engineering from Dixon, Mo.

Members of the Missouri S&T women’s team A are:

• Molly Clement, a senior in mechanical engineering from Souderton, Pa.
• Deanna Fitzgerald, a senior in mining engineering from Salisbury, Mo.
• Kelsey Garrett, a senior in mining engineering from Wildwood, Mo.
• Elizabeth Hunt, a senior in petroleum engineering from Chugiak, Ala.
• Lindsay Miller, a senior in petroleum engineering from St. Peters, Mo.
• Abby Pfaff, a sophomore in mining engineering from Ste. Genevieve, Mo.

Members of the Missouri S&T women’s team B are:

• Katie Beardslee, a sophomore in mining engineering from O’Fallon, Mo.
• Katherine Burke, a sophomore in mining engineering and geological engineering from Honolulu, Hawaii
• Jenna Freese, a senior in mining engineering from Ozark, Mo.
• Jennifer Holloway, a sophomore in engineering from Moscow Mills, Mo.
• Maggie Newsom, a junior in mining engineering from Springfield, Mo.
• Sara Tipton, a senior in geological engineering from Starkville, Miss.

Members of the Missouri S&T men’s team A are:

• Mike Allen, a graduate student in explosives engineering from St. Louis
• Matthew Coy, a Ph.D. student in mining engineering from Lewistown, Mo.
• Brent Fremont, a junior in mining engineering from Edwardsville, Ill.
• Jake Meier, a junior in mining engineering from Rolla
• David Phelps, a senior in mining engineering from Rolla
• Kevin Phelps, a senior in mining engineering from Rolla

Members of the Missouri S&T men’s team B are:

• Wade Leible, a senior in mining engineering from Perryville, Mo.
• Trent Mitchell, a senior in mining engineering from El Dorado Springs, Mo.
• Caleb Newman, a senior in mining engineering from Claremore, Okla.
• Jed Nowak, a graduate student in explosives engineering from Parkesburg, Pa.
• Russell Snyder, a senior in mining engineering from Bates City, Mo.
• Mark Spaniel, a senior in mining engineering from Lexington, S.C.

Members of the Missouri S&T men’s team C are:

• Greg Failes, a sophomore in civil engineering from Waynesville, Mo.
• Cody Grainger, a freshman in mechanical engineering from St. Louis
• Chance Moore, a sophomore in mining engineering from Palmyra, Mo.
• Daniel Schoenwald, a sophomore in mining engineering from Cambridge, Minn.
• Nick Upschulte, a sophomore in mining engineering from Kansas City, Mo.
• Josh Williams, a freshman in mining engineering from Van Burensburg, Ill.