2014 Southeast Illinois Skills Contest

White County's mine rescue team wins first place in day's competition
Carmi Times
June 13, 2014

See Contest Photos

Harrisburg, Illinois - The mine safety and rescue team from Pattiki-White County Coal Mine won the first of two days of competition held this week at Harrisburg's Southeastern Illinois College campus, in partnership with Illinois Eastern Community Colleges.

Pattiki-White County Coal, led by team captain Lonnie Garrett, included Dustin Barnett, Joe Grimm, Luke Johnson, Kory Naas, Harvey Niehaus, Seth Tate, Phillip Grimm, Seth Williams and Rick Naas.

Also on day one, earning second place was Mach M Class & Viking State, led by Tim Kirkpatrick, team caption.  Team members included Chad Chapman, Girolamo Intravaia, Scott Leflor, Tim Norman, Mark Schilke, Mike Short, Rusty Thompson and Kyle Ridlen.

Third place was awarded to Gateway, led by team captain Dustin Patterson.

The second day of competition resulted in the 5-Star Black Panther Team from Indiana, led by team captain Derrick DeMoss, winning for the day and taking home the overall competition championship.

This team qualifies for the national competition to be held in October in Ruff Creek, Pennsylvania.  Other team members include Tyler Arnold, Matt Barley, Brian Clements, Jeffery Combs, Kelly Alongi (SIC team leader), Steve Earle, Nick Foley, Shane Meadows, Nick O'Connor, Tory Hinton and Terry Phegley (trainer).

Rock Spring Blue of West Virginia, led by team captain Paul Messer, came in second for the last day of competition.  Team members included Mark Adkins, Justin Chapman, Donald Edwards, Josh Moore, Elmer Perry, Jerry Ward and Bruce Runyon.

Third place in day two of mine competition was Madisonville Community College - Kentucky Coal Academy.  The team included Ron Anderson, Chris Jones, Jason Knight, Zeb Kramer, David Mackey, Tommy Nantz, Dean Sparks (captain), Tabor Tichenor and Ryan Duff.

Other teams in the competition included Lively Grove - Prairie State Generating Company, Harrisburg Red - American Coal, Harrisburg Blue - Wildcat Hills, Springfield Station Blue, Springfield Station Gold, Black Team - Knight Hawk Coal, and White Oak Resources.

The purpose of the event was not only to provide an extra opportunity for mine safety training in an exciting and competitive environment, but also to increase awareness regarding training opportunities in the area and encourage utilization of that training to keep our local miners prepared and safe on the job.