Brandon Anspach, a junior from Rawson, was a member of the Ohio Northern University's Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Baja team that finished fifth overall at the Baja SAE Birmingham competition held April 14-17.

Fifty-eight teams from several countries, including the United States, Canada, South Korea and Mexico, traveled to Birmingham, Ala., for the event.

The Baja SAE competition challenges engineering students to research and design an off-road vehicle that will be subjected to a battery of rigorous performance tests. The vehicles are judged based on acceptance for manufacture by a fictitious firm. Each vehicle is entirely student-designed and built, and students must raise financial support for the project. There are three regional competitions in which students may compete.

ONU finished in the top 20 in each of the competition's eight categories: endurance (fifth place), water (seventh), suspension and traction (15th), pull (15th), maneuverability (fourth), acceleration (13th), design (14th), and cost (15th).

The ONU team also received the "Rookie of the Year" award for its outstanding performance in its first-ever water event race. The water event required the team to turn its car into a boat for a significant stretch of the race.

The ONU team plans to compete in two additional events, a May event in Kansas and a June event in Illinois.