As part of an Intercollegiate Mining Competition, held in April, University of Nevada, Reno School of Earth Sciences and Engineering students received the first place award in the overall co-educational division.

From the UNR Nevada Today news page: 

A team of mining engineering students, the Mackay Muckers, from University of Nevada, Reno, competed in numerous old-time mining events at the 38th annual Intercollegiate Mining Competition – earning them first place in the overall co-educational division. There were seven events in total, five of which consisted of the entire team, and the other two events consisted of two-man teams.

The first five events put the competitors’ knowledge and skill to the test by examining how fast they could drill the deepest hole in rock, saw through a 6-by-6 inch piece of timber, find five lead bb’s in a gold pan, fill two-ton ore carts with dirt, and set up and tear down a section of railroad track.

The other two events required two team members to use a pneumatic drill on a single leg and drill as far as possible into rock for three minutes. In the last event, competitors got 45 minutes to survey a 150-foot closed traverse and calculate the end point.

You can read the full article here.