ASC Region 6 & 7 Results for 2025
Back Row: Prof. Shantanu Kumar, Finnbarr Kelly, Prof. Joe Cleary, Dean Cavanna & Alejandro Gonzalez
Front Row: Landon Jackson (alternate), Elijah Burt, Ishwari Patel & Nick Catherall
Cal Poly teams proved themselves, once again, to be ‘the ones to beat’ at the annual Region 6 and 7 Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Competition held in Reno, Nevada from February 5 – 8, 2025. Congratulations to all the students on the five Cal Poly teams who took 1st place: Commercial, Concrete, Mechanical Team #2, Preconstruction, and Mixed Use, and the Virtual Design and Construction team who earned a hard-won 2nd place. Teams are comprised of six students, mostly CM seniors and juniors, with two alternatives for each.
Despite Cal Poly’s long-standing dominance, the competition from other outstanding contenders is always fierce, with a tight deadline to complete the assigned tasks. Teams have just 14-16 hours to solve a real-world industry problem, submitting a proposal package that adheres to specific time frames, deadlines, schedules, locations and conditions. Estimating, site logistics, safety and quality management planning must all be accounted for.
Senior Jacqueline Yeung, Captain of the winning Preconstruction team, explained: “Our team was tasked with a project located on an island in Hawai’i. An existing 5-story building was being renovated into an 8-story multi-use timeshare/hotel with retail space, but the very high water table created an additional challenge that involved ballasting the building during the construction phase.” She credits her Co-Captain Luke Sutherland and each of the students on her team for their incredibly hard work in their respective areas to problem-solve efficiently. She added that the Preconstruction team has won this competition four years in a row – a streak she hopes will continue. Yeung is especially grateful to Cal Poly’s Construction Management program, the professors, coaches, and industry connections for their resources, understanding and expertise and “pushing us past our comfort zone to improve our knowledge.”
Part-time CM Lecturer Mark Montoya has coached the Preconstruction and Integrated Project Design teams for the past three years. This was his 33rd year at the ASC Competition in Reno; prior to his position at Cal Poly, he attended as an industry executive. Montoya said: “I thoroughly enjoy coaching our ASC competition teams. Being able to push the students, guide them, and give them confidence to perform at a high level on real construction problems provided by sophisticated construction companies, and watch them succeed is a lot of fun.”
CM senior Kyle Honsik, Co-Captain of the winning Concrete team, has participated in the ASC Competition for the past three years, building team cohesion with his co-captain Jack Ritchie. Honsik said “This competition certainly requires team chemistry. Spending time together in practice meetings or through team bonding is critical to our preparation.” Describing the biggest hurdles the team faced, he noted: “The most challenging part of this competition is the extreme attention to detail and technical knowledge the problem requires. In concrete construction there are so many ways to form and sequence the structure, there's truly no one right answer. It’s imperative that your solution is well thought out and addresses every possible issue or bottleneck.”
Cal Poly has participated in the ASC Competition since its inception in 1997. Problem-solving real world challenges in all sectors of the construction industry exposes all competitors to “learn by doing” – a core tenet of the Cal Poly experience.
For a complete listing of all 13 teams and their team members, please go to : https://construction.calpoly.edu/content/competitions-and-awards/asc-6-7
