Missouri S&T will host a mine rescue competition Sept. 28 through Oct. 1. With 22 teams, it’s the biggest non-national competition ever held in the U.S.

Missouri University of Science and Technology will host a competition designed to simulate a mine emergency Monday, Sept. 28 through Thursday, Oct. 1 at the Missouri S&T Experimental Mine and the Rolla National Guard Armory.

Missouri S&T teams will compete with teams from industry, such as Doe Run, Vulcan Materials Co. and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Other collegiate teams competing are the Colorado School of Mines and Penn State University. In all, 22 teams will compete, necessitating the use of the mine and the armory.

“It’s the biggest non-national competition ever held,” says DeWayne Phelps, engineering technician and mine rescue trainer at Missouri S&T.

The competition consists of a written skills test; two hands-on simulated mine disasters (one on the surface and one underground); a first aid portion with a written test, hands-on CPR and a first-responder scenario; and a team technician portion with a written test and technical troubleshooting of breathing apparatuses and gas instruments.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) will judge the competition.

Missouri S&T Gold Team members are as follows:

•    Holden Henry, a senior in mining engineering from Elliington, Missouri

•    Katie Sewester, a graduate student in explosives engineering from Viola, Kansas

•    Andrew Hanneke, a senior in mining engineering from O’Fallon, Missouri

•    Ross Hoover, a senior in mining engineering from St. Charles, Missouri

•    Hayden Pearson, a junior in mining engineering from Eliot, Maine

•    Jimmy Nash, a senior in mining engineering from Bunker, Missouri

•    Holden McComb , a sophomore in mining engineering from Littleton, Colorado

•    Tanner Eliuk, a sophomore in mining engineering from Fulton, Missouri

Missouri S&T Black Team members are as follows:

•    Katherine Burke , a junior in mining engineering from Honolulu

•    Will Hoover, a junior in engineering from St. Charles, Missouri

•    Kevin Cahill, a senior in mining engineering from St. Louis

•    Aubry Brown, a senior in mining engineering from Greenwood, Missouri

•    Josh Miller, a senior in mining engineering from Liberal, Kansas

•    Elizabeth Shuman, a junior in mining engineering from St. Louis

•    Ethan Kerr, a sophomore in mining engineering from Union, Missouri

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