RENO — Engineering students at the University of Nevada, Reno excelled again, taking second place in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ highly competitive 23rd annual National Concrete Canoe Competition that concluded Saturday at California Polytechnic State University, in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

“We’re extremely proud of our performance, we now have the highest average overall placement of any team in the history of the National Concrete Canoe Competition,” Kelly Lyttle, advisor to the team, said following their fifth consecutive year of national competition. “It’s an honor to represent our school, our state and our profession.”

Nevada won the national competition in 2008.

The students, paddling their 224-pound canoe named Battle Born in several races, placed fourth overall in the battle against wind, choppy water and the 21 other boats from around the country.

The Wolf Pack team placed first in the technical design paper, second in the oral presentation and fifth place in the final product category.

Cal Poly took first place overall and the 25-member Nevada team placed ahead of École de Technologie Supérieure from Montréal, Canada in the grueling three-day event that mixes academics and athletics.

Using rigorous standards laid out in a 78-page document of the engineering society’s rules and regulations, the Nevada team built the white, amber and blue lighter-than-water canoe with a creative mixture of cement, fibers and other exotic materials over eight months. They trained every weekend throughout the winter in preparation for the event, winning the highly competitive regional competition.

They were only one of 18 teams from around the United States and Canada to gain them a berth at the nationals.