Cedarville wins its 14th Solar Splash competition with record score

Kaden Torgerud, a student at Cedarville University, pilots his school's solar boat during one of the sprint heats at Solar Splash 2024 Friday. Teams from eight colleges, from as far away as the University of Puerto Rico, participated in this years event at Champions Park Lake. Solar Splash, in its 30th year, is the World Championship of Collegiate Solar Boat racing. The five day event starts on June 4 and features five on-the-water competitive events, the solar slalom, the solar endurance and the solar sprint. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Credit: Bill Lackey

Credit: Bill Lackey

Kaden Torgerud, a student at Cedarville University, pilots his school's solar boat during one of the sprint heats at Solar Splash 2024 Friday. Teams from eight colleges, from as far away as the University of Puerto Rico, participated in this years event at Champions Park Lake. Solar Splash, in its 30th year, is the World Championship of Collegiate Solar Boat racing. The five day event starts on June 4 and features five on-the-water competitive events, the solar slalom, the solar endurance and the solar sprint. BILL LACKEY/STAFF
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June 13, 2024
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Cedarville University has won its 14th championship during the 30th annual World Solar Splash competition last week.

The university’s team of engineering students received the George Ettenheim Memorial World Championship trophy for winning the 30th annual World Solar Splash event on June 9 at Champions Park Lake in Springfield.

This is the 14th time Cedarville has claimed the top honor, the most championships of any competitor.

The Solar Splash is the World Championship of Collegiate Solar Boating and includes intercollegiate teams from North American, Europe, Japan and Turkey. Each competitor is a student team that spends the previous year designing, constructing and testing their solar boat. Each boat is driven by a single driver and vary in appearance but must conform to size, power and safety specifications.

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Cedarville finished with a 987.70 score out of 1,000 points, the university’s “most impressive victory to date as it registered its highest score in history.” They “dominated” in each of the water events including slalom, endurance and sprint, with a possible 850 points in these categories.

As for the other teams, the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez (UPRM) placed second with a 870.72 score, the University of New Mexico placed third with 731.75 points, followed by Carnegie Mellon University with 521.55 points, Stony Brook University with 480.04 points and the University of Dayton finished sixth with 399.96 points.

Cedarville University won the 30th annual World Solar Splash competition on June 9. Contributed/Photo by Scott Huck, Cedarville University

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The first Solar Splash competition was held in Milwaukee in 1994 with 11 competitors. Since then, more than 90 American universities, 11 international universities and five high school teams have participated.

The 2025 Solar Splash world event will take place June 3-7 at Champions Park Lake at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Springfield.

For more information, visit www.solarsplash.com.

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Brooke Spurlock covers education, crime and more in Clark and Champaign counties as a reporter for the Springfield News-Sun. She has been a writer for over six years, which includes her previous work as a breaking news desk investigator. Spurlock has her bachelor's in mass communications with a minor in psychology and her associates in paralegal.