Saint Thomas Academy Experimental Vehicle Team Wins the Dell-Winston Solar Car Challenge

MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn., July 17 -- With gasoline prices at an all-time high, industry leaders and consumers are interested in high-mileage, fuel-efficient vehicles, as well as alternative fuel sources. The students at Saint Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights have been ahead of the curve for eight years, developing alternative-powered vehicle prototypes that could provide the chassis or engine for tomorrow's showroom models.

The Experimental Vehicle Team's (EVT) 2005 solar car crossed the finish line as the winners of the Dell-Winston Solar Car Challenge on July 16, 2005. The Challenge is a 959-mile, eight-day race from Round Rock, TX to Pasadena, CA. Saint Thomas Academy's EVT was at the front of the race the entire way, sometimes reaching speeds of 50 mph, and was the only team to complete all of the race miles in the allotted time. A total of nine vehicles from across the country and Mexico competed.

About the Saint Thomas Academy Experimental Vehicle Team:

Moderator and physics instructor Mark Westlake supervised a team of 14 students (Derek Beilke of Apple Valley, Matt DeMay of White Bear Lake, co- captain Nick DePrey of Eagan, Kareem El Muslemany of Mendota Heights, Bryan Finn of Burnsville, Ben Johnson of Anoka, Mitch Kaminsen of Edina, Kevin Maas of Mendota Heights, Murphy O'Halloran of St. Paul, co-captain David Patterson of St. Paul, Rex Pearce of S. St. Paul, David Riehm of Stillwater, Tom Schaefer of St. Paul, and Matt Tredinnick of Savage) for the 12 months it took to build and test the vehicle. Since the team's inception in 1998, teams have built supermileage, solar, and electric cars, as well as ice bikes.

   EVT National Results -
   1998 - Supermileage Car: First Place
   1999 - Supermileage Car: First Place (national record of 1,005 miles per
          gallon of gasoline)
   2000 - Supermileage Car: First Place (national record of 1,322 miles per
          gallon of gasoline)
   2002 - Electric Car: First Place (world record of 37.52 miles in one
          hour); Toyota Design Award
   2003 - Human-Powered Ice Race: First Place
   2004 - Human-Powered Ice Race: First Place
   2004 - Solar Bike: First Place (national record of 100 km in 2:08:04)
   2004 - Solar Car: First Place (national record of 100 km in 1:52:36)
   2005 - Solar Car: First Place

  About Saint Thomas Academy:

Now in its 120th year of educating young men, Saint Thomas Academy has a current enrollment of 665 students in grades 7 - 12. STA is Minnesota's only Catholic, college-preparatory, JROTC, all-male school.

Additional resources available at: http://www.cadets.com/main.php/News/Press

(For the link to Mark Westlake's daily journal of the race and the link to more details about the Dell-Winston Solar Car Challenge)

  Saint Thomas Academy will host a reception for the team on Thursday, July
  28, 2005.

Members of the EVT will discuss the Dell-Winston race and provide a demonstration of the car. Press packets, including video and photographs, will be available.

  WHAT - Reception for the Saint Thomas Academy Experimental Vehicle Team

  WHEN/WHERE - Thursday, July 28, 2005 at 12:00 p.m.
               Saint Thomas Academy
               949 Mendota Heights Road
               Mendota Heights, MN 55120

  CONTACT -   Mary Culbertson, Saint Thomas Academy
              651-683-1532
              mculbertson@cadets.com