SIUE ACM Programming Team Places Fifth in Region

[Jerry]

SIUE ACM Programming Team placed 1st locally and 5th in the region this last weekend.

Full standings can be found here:

http://csc.smsu.edu/~score/mcpc2004.cgi?view=99

Below is a message from the Coach: Dr. Blythe


Hello all,

  In case you hadn't already heard, I wanted to update you on SIUE's recent performance at the Midwest Regional of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest.

  The team made up of Jonathon Birch, John Tippabuttini, and William Grim finished in FIRST PLACE at the local contest site (easily beating teams from schools like St. Louis University and Washington University).
At the end of the contest, it appeared that they had finished in 8th place over the entire "Mid-Central" region (which would have been a very strong finish in and of itself).

  However, it turned out that three of the teams that had initially placed above our 8th place team had incorrectly received credit for solving problems that they had not properly solved. When this was taken into account, our 8th place finish turned into a FIFTH PLACE finish.
This ranks as the best placement EVER from a team competing at the current local site (Principia College) in such contests, and among the best EVER (if not THE best) placements from any team in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

  If you see any of the contestants, please be sure to congratulate them
- they put in a good amount of hard work in preparing for this contest, and it paid off.

  -steve

[Tyler]

Awesome.  Make sure to think that your guys tore it up against Wash U people that all graduated at the top of their class and pay $2x,xxx tutituion.

Just goes to show that the SIUE SOE rocks.

[Guest]

Congrats to the team. It's also worth pointing out that they solved as many problems as any team in the region, finishing in 5th because of time.

[Guest]

If someone (W.Grim?) could enlighten us, I'm interested in the strategy the team used.

Did they keep one person at the keyboard the entire time? Or did each of the three take responsibility for a couple of problems and take turns at the keyboard, hammering out the solution?

[Ross Mead]

Congrats guys!  Is anyone planning on competing next year?

[Jonathan Birch]

I feel like we could take first now if they were to rehold the competition, so I certainly intend to try again next year.

[William Grim]

I feel like we could take first as well.... especially by the time next year rolls around.  By that time, I should have had a good time to improve my skills with some of the more complex problems they offer.

I think those more difficult problems were a good insight into what you should learn to be successful in high-end computing... problem solving skills, math, and more math.  Time to hone those math skills.

We should have a great team next year!  I plan on competing.