The Ohio Northern University Department of Technological Studies construction management team finished fifth in the Concrete Solutions Competition at the Associated Schools of Construction Great Lakes Region 3 annual conference held in Downers Grove, Ill., from Oct. 14-16.

ONU competed against 10 other universities from across the country in the national open event at the conference. In addition to Region 3 schools, ONU competed against teams from Cal-Poly, Sacramento State, University of Southern California and Arizona State.

The ONU students were given a “request for proposal” for a project and were required to submit a final proposal to the event sponsor, LithKo, on Thursday evening. The team presented its proposal to a panel of industry professionals on Friday afternoon.

The construction management majors who made up ONU’s team were Zach Niekamp, a senior from Versailles, Ohio; Ben Freer, a senior from Ashland, Ohio; Jake Sowers, a sophomore from Covington, Ohio; Steve Gohrband, a senior from Troy, Ohio; Greg Biben, a senior from Aurora, Ohio; Chad Seagraves, a sophomore from Troy, Ohio; and Dan Sager, a senior from Marion, Ohio.

Richard Miller, an ONU assistant professor of technology who currently serves as the ASC Region 3 assistant director, and Douglass Degan, lecturer at ONU, accompanied the students as faculty advisors.