The University of Nevada, Reno’s concrete canoe team will paddle into Sparks today to try and hold onto their national title.

Eleven teams from California want to beat the champions, but unlike previous years, UNR’s team, which hosts the event, will have home court advantage.

“This is a huge event,” said Robert Coomes, conference chairman and past university concrete canoe team member. “We have 425 engineering students from outside the area coming to Reno. It’s a great economic benefit for the community, but also a chance for undergraduates to put their skills and knowledge to the test and compete against other schools.”

Today, after starting practice last September, the team of four men and four women will finally face its competition. The events break the team into groups of men, women and co-eds for sprint, slalom and endurance events.

Some of the teams they’ll face are the University of California, Berkley and University of California Davis, as well as San Jose State University and Sacramento State.

“Our huge adversary is UC Berkeley,” Coomes said. “We have a lot on the line. We’re going to have to really bring our skills to the forefront to beat them.”

After the canoes are put through a dunking test today from 8 to 10 a.m., the teams compete in two sessions of racing. The first is from 10 to 11 a.m. while the second runs from 1 to 3 p.m. followed by canoe durability judging.

If the pack’s paddlers finish either first or second, they’ll qualify for the nationals held at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, June 11 to 13. They have competed in the nationals for the past three years and last year beat out UC Berkley for the title.

Other events will take place at the UNR campus today and Saturday, including a water treatment competition and steel bridge building competition.

Admission is free to Friday’s competition and spectators not only get a chance to root for the hometown team but to see a very different type of competition featuring one of the few UNR national championship teams in action.