Mater Dei Super-Mileage Team Wins Four 1st Place Awards in International Competition

It's been a good several months for my alma mater, Mater Dei. From a 2nd place finish in the state football game back in November to a title win in the girls basketball state championship last month, the current student body at Mater Dei has given we alumni a lot to be proud of. That pride extends outside the world of sports with the recent 1st place wins posted by the Mater Dei Super-Mileage team during an international competition held last weekend in Houston, TX.

This year's Shell Eco-marathon Americas competition hosted over 1,000 students from 37 high schools and 44 universities from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil making Mater Dei's already impressive showing that much more so.

The event features two classes, Prototype and Urban Concept. Prototype vehicles are more streamlined with the main design focus being on reducing wind drag and improving efficiency. Urban Concept vehicles are designed to be more "street-legal" with 4-wheels. Teams can enter multiple vehicles, but must use one of seven fuel types which include your standard gasoline and diesel, as well as Ethanol E-100 and something called Fatty Acid Methyl Esther (FAME). There are also e-mobility options including hydrogen, battery electric, and solar. The four winning entries from Mater Dei were prototype vehicles in the ethanol, gasoline, and battery electric categories along with one urban concept car in the gasoline category.

They're Prototype class, Gasoline category nabbed first place by registering 2,188.6 miles per gallon while they're entry in the Urban Concept class, Gasoline category took home another first place win with a registered 611 miles per gallon! On top of that, they also took home first place trophy's by achieving the hightest mileage in Prototype, Battery Electric and Prototype, Alternative Gasoline.

Each first place win came with a $2,000 prize giving Mater Dei a grand total of $8,000 in prize money! Congrats to the team and thanks for giving us alumni yet another reason to be proud of our alma mater.

[Sources: 14 WFIE & Shell Eco-marathon Americas]