Battle of the Basin sees serious growth in second year of welding competition

The Battle of the Basin welding competition returned on Nov. 22 to offer local high school welders a chance to measure and showcase their skills, and it's gotten bigger and better in its second year.

The competition was hosted last year in Ten Sleep by welding teacher Jason Thoren at Thoren's welding shop. There were welders from Ten Sleep, Greybull, Shoshoni and Worland competing for prizes with a $10 entry fee. Thoren said, "I had been talking to Brian [Aagard] since last year, and he wanted to partner up with me on the Battle of the Basin. It's a lot for one teacher to put on by themselves, and I think splitting it up this way works best; I think Brian and I each want to see it grow."

Thoren said, "We've been trying to design this contest as a precursor to the SkillsUSA contest and I think this year we were able to get a lot closer to what kids are gonna see there as far as welding processes and what's expected of them."

Aagard added, "There's not a lot of competitions for these kids to go and get practice for our state competition in April [SkillsUSA], so this is a good opportunity to get them that practice. There's a lot of nerves involved when you're doing any competition, whether it's welding or sports. Doing competitions like this, they can learn how to handle those nerves so when they go to the big event they can be confident in their skills."

Ten Sleep hosted competitors in the beginner and intermediate divisions, while Worland welding teacher Brian Aagard hosted the advanced competition at Worland High School. Aagard said, "Judges from Wyoming Sugar Company (Bryan Maury and Brady Salzman) and Matt Sanchez from MAD Fabrication evaluated the Advanced Competition, while Austin Scarbrough with McGarvin Moberly, and a local welder Craig Gossens (Rocky Mountain Ice) spent the afternoon judging the beginner and intermediate competitions."

The competition grew with Powell and Rocky Mountain bringing welders to compete, and Thoren noted that thanks to greater sponsorship this year welders competed for free. Thoren said, "We definitely had a lot more kids than last year; I think we had double. We were able to do some more advanced welds with each group too."

Aagard said several local and area businesses were instrumental in making this competition happen by donating time, materials and scholarship money to cover students fees and prizes for the competitors. "A special thanks goes out to these business and industry members who are making this happen," he added.

"I learn a lot each year we do this. The biggest thing I've learned is how willing local businesses are to help out with this. I've gotten two or three calls now from businesses that want to sponsor next year. It makes it a lot of fun, we were able to give out some kind of prize to every kid who participated, and they all got to participate for free. It's really cool. We couldn't do that kind of thing without the sponsors we had this year," said Thoren.

Aagard added, "Having run the advanced competition for the first time, I found that the time we had set aside was too much for the competition we designed. I realized I was going to run out of things for them to do because they got through some of it so quickly. So I cut out some more plates and threw in another event that ended up being a tie-breaker for second place. I know now that these kids are at a skill level that they need more; I need to up the ante a little bit."

RESULTS

This year, welders were once again tasked with reading and interpreting drawings and welding procedure sheets to perform welds of increasing degrees of difficulty.

In the beginner division, each competitor welded a tee joint with E7018 rod in the horizontal position and a lap joint with solid wire gas metal arc welding (GMAW). Twenty students competed in the competition, with Levi Cochrane from Greybull winning first place and a new welding helmet. Macklan Ball from Ten Sleep finished in a close second and won a Milwaukee cordless impact driver.

The intermediate division went up in difficulty; competitors welded a tee joint and lap joint with E7018 and E6010 rod in the horizontal position as well as an open corner joint using solid wire GMAW. Eleven students competed in the competition with Wyatt Turgeon from Ten Sleep taking home first place and a new snap-on welding helmet. In second place, Rex Cooper from Greybull won a Milwaukee cordless impact driver.

The advanced division featured 12 welders from four different schools. The advanced competition was the hardest in difficulty; competitors welded in the vertical and flat positions using shielded metal arc welding (SMAW), flux-cored arc welding (FCAW), and GMAW processes and in the horizontal position using the FCAW process. They also had a pipe-to-plate joint, and a station on oxy-fuel cutting (OFC). This competition was very close, with Worland senior Jaye Christensen taking first place and winning a new Miller digital welding hood and other tools, Worland senior Trey Wagner taking second place and winning a digital welding hood and other tools, and Greybull welder Brenson Gross taking third and winning a Milwaukee impact drive.

Christensen and Wagner were both interviewed about the competition.

Both seniors have had previous welding competition experience and felt confident in the Battle of the Basin. They both stated too that they were grateful for the prizes and the experience the competition gave them before SkillsUSA, which they both plan to compete in.

Christensen said, "It's shown me that I can be confident in my welding, and I just need more time under the hood practicing for Skills."

Wagner added, "I'd probably say the same; just need to keep practicing different types of welds so I have more experience under my belt with whatever they can throw at us."