SBU CIS Receives Top Honors at Mid-Central Region Intercollegiate Programming Contest
Southwest Baptist University News Release
Contact: Sharina Smith, Office of Marketing & Communications
BOLIVAR, Mo. – Southwest Baptist University’s Department of Computer and Information Sciences (CIS) Competitive Programming teams received top honors at Missouri State University, Saturday, November 5, in the IBM-sponsored Mid-Central Region Intercollegiate Programming Contest.
“It was a pretty exciting finish,” said Dr. Tim DeClue, chair of the CIS department. The contest is sponsored by IBM and is held at sites all over the world.
Dr. DeClue adds, “One of our teams, SBU-B, led the competition for most of the five-hour contest and our other team, SBU-A, had locked in third place. In the judge’s room Dr. [James] Cain [assistant professor of CIS] and I thought that’s where our teams would finish. But in the last five minutes—the last two minutes really—SBU-A managed to complete a final solution. I can only imagine what that must have been like for them. It was pretty amazing. Our kids have worked hard, our coaches have worked hard, and God has blessed the effort. This is quite an honor.”
The competition, informally called the “Battle of the Brains,” is held annually among leading colleges and universities with computing programs. Undergraduate and graduate-level students are allowed to compete together.
According to DeClue, “Allowing graduate students to compete is good, because it certainly raises the level of problem-solving and analytical ability in the contest. It also makes our students’ achievement even that much more remarkable. We [SBU CIS] only have an undergraduate program and the one team that edged us out in the whole state was from Washington University—an institution with both master’s and doctoral-level programs in computer science.”
Competing on SBU’s A team was Weston Herrington (Junior, Carthage, Mo.), Luke Abbott (Junior, Camdenton, Mo.), and Jacob Foster (Sophomore, Webb City, Mo.).
SBU’s B team was comprised of Maaura Stucky (Junior, Kansas City, Mo.), Jason Jakusz (Sophomore, Ava, Mo.), and Justin Stout (Freshman, Gardner, Kan.). Also practicing with the teams this fall were Ellie Fjellman (Freshman, St. Joseph, Mo.), Tanner Barnes (Freshman, Dallas, Texas), and Steven Hopkins (Freshman, Lebanon, Mo.)
The SBU Competitive programming teams are coached by Dr. Cain and Dr. Baochuan Lu.
The competitive programming teams will practice and compete again in the spring at the Consortium for Computing Sciences Central Plains Regional Programming Contest where they are the 2011 defending champions.
Complete Missouri Results
Place School/Team Problems Solved
1. Washington University-St. Louis – A 5
2. SOUTHWEST BAPTIST UNIVERSITY – A 5
3. SOUTHWEST BAPTIST UNIVERSITY – B 4
4. College of the Ozarks – A 4
5. Drury University – A 4
6. Park University 4
7. Missouri State University – A 3
8. College of the Ozarks – B 3
9. Washington University – B 3
10. Saint Louis University-A 3
11. University of Central Missouri – A 3
12. Saint Louis University-B 3
13. Park University –B 3
14. Missouri State University – B 3
15. University of Central Missouri – B 3
16. University of Missouri – Kansas City – A 3
17. Drury University –B 2
18. Lindenwood University-A 2
19. Lindenwood University-B 2
20. Northwest Missouri State University 2
21. College of the Ozarks – C 2
22. University of Missouri-Kansas City – B 2
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