Members of the Waterloo Black Association of Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest team are headed to Phuket, Thailand this coming May for the contest world finals thanks to a stunning performance at this past weekend's East Central North America Regional Programming Contest which took place at the University of Windsor.
Out of 130 teams from 55 universities and colleges, Waterloo's four teams, Waterloo Black, Gold, White and Red finished first, second, third, and ninth, respectively. Other universities in the top 10 were Ohio State (fourth), Toronto (sixth), and Carnegie Mellon (fifth, seventh, eighth, 8th, and 10th).
Waterloo's Black team was the only team to solve all nine problems, finishing the five-hour contest in four hours and 30 minutes. Waterloo's Gold team also solved more problems (seven) than any other university.
Team coaches Ondřej Lhoták and Troy Vasiga along with Edward Chrzanowski expressed their pride in the teams.
"I am impressed with our students. Not only are they carrying a full workload of courses (or are on work term), but they manage to train and compete," explained Chrzanowski.