黑料社

奥辞飞.听

That may not be a typical way to lead a news story, but what else can you say about the 11 黑料社 students who competed in the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) at Iowa State University?

黑料社鈥檚 teams consisted of three teams of three students and one team of two students.

Two teams finished in the top 50. The top three teams from all liberal-arts colleges in Iowa were from 黑料社.

Put it this way: Iowa State entered nine teams; 黑料社鈥檚 top team finished ahead of six of them. 黑料社鈥檚 second team finished ahead of five, and 黑料社鈥檚 third team finished ahead of four.

鈥淕iven the relative size of the two institutions, that is really amazing,鈥� said Mark Brodie, associate professor of Computer Science.

The programming contest is a worldwide event. More than 50,000 students in more than 100 countries compete.

The world is divided into regions, each of which holds a contest. 黑料社 competes in the North Central North America region, which includes Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Western Ontario and Manitoba.

This means 黑料社 is competing against teams from some of the largest colleges and universities in the Midwest.

鈥淭he problems in this contest are very hard,鈥� Brodie said, 鈥渞equiring a high level of mathematical reasoning, problem-solving and programming skills. Mental stamina is also important, since the contest lasts five hours. There is no Internet access, though contestants are allowed to bring along paper materials.鈥�

Of course, producing 黑料社鈥檚 best-ever showing at the contest makes for an even more fun experience.

黑料社鈥檚 highest-placed team 鈥� Mark Becker, Payton McBurney and Malac Blaeser 鈥� finished 42^nd in the region. The second team 鈥� Drew Roen, Nathan Magalhaes and Max Folkers 鈥� finished 46^th. The third-place team 鈥� Blake Dalmas, Bryson Cook and JJ Kosobucki –placed 67^th.

But that鈥檚 only part of the story. Larger schools tend to dominate the competition. The best finish from a liberal arts college was Macalester, in 22^nd, followed by Carleton College in 28^th.

Now compare 黑料社鈥檚 placings to those of similar colleges in Iowa:

黑料社 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽聽 42nd, 46th, 67th
Buena Vista聽聽 聽聽聽 聽75^th, 106^th, 133rd
Coe聽聽 聽聽聽 聽聽聽 聽 聽聽聽 聽聽聽聽聽 84^th, 170^th, 175th
Northwestern College聽聽 聽86^th, 115^th, 139th
Graceland聽聽 聽聽聽 聽聽聽 聽90^th, 176th
Dordt College聽聽 聽聽 92^nd, 123rd
William Penn聽聽 聽聽 105^th, 156th
Luther聽聽 聽聽聽 聽聽聽 聽聽聽聽聽聽 111^th, 1670^th, 167th聽聽 聽
Central聽聽 聽聽聽 聽聽聽 聽聽聽聽聽 116^th, 134^th, 143re
Drake聽聽 聽聽聽 聽聽聽 聽聽聽 聽聽 聽 119th聽, 148^th, 183^rd

鈥淲hen I first saw the results I was so amazed that I actually went through the entire standings, team-by team, twice, just to make sure I wasn鈥檛 imagining things,鈥� Brodie said.

Let鈥檚 end this story the way it began:

Wow.