Lipscomb concrete canoe team captures fifth consecutive MidSouth regional championship, advances to nationals

Lipscomb concrete canoe team captures fifth consecutive MidSouth regional championship, advances to nationals

Office of Public Relations & Communications | 04/26/2026

For the fifth consecutive year, the Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering concrete canoe team has claimed first place at the MidSouth Student Symposium concrete canoe competition, continuing a dominant run in one of civil engineering's premier collegiate competitions.

Competing against top engineering programs from across Tennessee and Arkansas, Lipscomb swept every major category of the competition, earning first-place honors in proposal, presentation, final product and races. The MidSouth Student Symposium featured participation from institutions across the region, including teams from the University of Arkansas, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and Vanderbilt University among others.

"This team's success lies within the team's commitment to community, servant leadership and mentorship," said Monica Sartain, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering. "This year's team has been especially self-sufficient."

Led by captain Alex Aylor-Ibarra and co-captain Alisa Rowel, both civil engineering majors, the championship team included Reece Boyd, Anthony Buckland, Bryan Beasley, James Portwood, Xavier Guerrero, Alan Aylor-Ibarra and Shannon Abernathy, all civil engineering majors; Carter Schmidt, Alex Cady and Kasen Holt, mechanical engineering majors; and Kenli Hill, a business major. Sartain and Todd Lynn, associate professor and chair of civil engineering, have served as the team's advisors for the past five years, during which they've won the regional competition each year.

According to Sartain, the team dedicated thousands of hours developing the theme, testing design mixes in the lab, fabricating and finishing the canoe, named "The Tri-Star," an homage to the three white stars on the Tennessee state flag representing its three grand divisions, for competition. They have also spent time writing a summary report, building the display and working on their presentation.

"They have also had a lot of fun in the process," she said. "It is really inspiring to see how the team uses a mentoring relationship to pass down knowledge and provide experience to the next year's captain."

"The team relies on members to use not only their civil engineering skills, but also other creative talents to build this year's canoe," Sartain continued. "We're very proud of the team's hard work and dedication to the competition, but also to each other."

Lipscomb's team now advances to the 2026 ASCE Civil Engineering Student Championships, the national concrete canoe competition, where the team will compete against top collegiate programs from across the United States and internationally, including teams from Canada, India and China. The national competition will take place June 25-27 at Fairmont State University in West Virginia.