Concordia’s Programming Team Competes in Regional Programming Contest
On Saturday, November 4, Concordia’s programming team ended their competitive programming season with the North Central North America Regional. This regional contest is part of the International Collegiate Programming Competition (ICPC), where thousands of universities from around the world strive to solve as many programming problems as possible, as fast as possible.
ICPC contests feature teams of three coders working together to solve difficult problems in an intense five-hour competition. The team who solves the most problems wins, with time-to-completion breaking ties. Teams compete in ICPC qualifying and regional contests, with the top teams advancing to continental championships and world finals.
This year’s North Central North America Regional posed 12 problems to 129 teams from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ontario, Manitoba, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Michigan. Concordia’s programming team split into five sub-teams for the contest.
The team worked hard this semester and their programming skill improved substantially. I'm excited to see what the team will achieve in future years.
Runtime Terrors solved four problems, placing 22nd.
Andrew Brandt, senior, Knob Noster, Mo.
Jacob Woodmancy, senior, Grant, Neb.
Tytus Woodburn, junior, York, Neb.
Code S’mores solved three problems, placing 52nd.
Aaron Cumming, sophomore, Allen, Texas
Andrew Fynaardt, sophomore, Oskaloosa, Iowa
Syntax Sorcerers solved two problems, placing 68th.
Abe Gomez, freshman, Alliance, Neb.
Ethan L’Heureux, freshman, Cedar Falls, Iowa
Silas Curtis, freshman, Worden, Ill.
The A Team solved two problems, placing 71st.
Alec Johnston, junior, White Bear Lake, Minn.
Alyssa Butler, senior, Houston, Texas
Andrew Pfeiffer, senior, Bettendorf, Iowa
Solutions Not Found solved two problems, placing 76th.
Caden Korell, freshman, Blair, Neb.
David Marin, freshman, Omaha, Neb.
Isaac Dawson, freshman, Cedar Falls, Iowa
The teams who placed higher than Concordia’s top team are all from larger universities, including the top team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The full standings can be found here.
Marcus Gubanyi, head of the mathematics and computer science departments at Concordia as well as the coach of the programming team, was pleased with the team’s overall performance.
“While we didn’t achieve our goal of advancing to the North America Championships, I’m still incredibly proud of the students and their performances,” he said. “The team worked hard this semester and their programming skill improved substantially. I’m excited to see what the team will achieve in future years.”
Concordia’s programming team plans to compete in a smaller programming competition on April 6, 2024, as part of the 13th Annual Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges. The team will travel to Graceland University to compete at the Central Plains Conference.
Interested in joining Concordia’s programming team? Learn more here.
