A group of Waterloo High School students with a passion for automotives saw great success last month at the national level, with two teams managing to perform exceptionally well among larger schools from around the country.

The WHS Auto Club participates in a nationwide competition which tests students’ mechanic skills and their teamwork as they break down and reassemble an engine as fast as they can.

Early in December, the club, headed by coach Tony Biffar, participated in the competition’s national championships at the Performance Racing Industry show in Indianapolis.

With of two teams, one consisting of more experienced students and the other of students new to the program, the club overall had a strong showing.

The more experienced team managed to rank 6th out of 28 awarded teams, reaching a time of 22 minutes and 7 seconds.

Though newer, the other team hardly looked like novices as they placed 14th with a time of 26 minutes and 57 seconds.

These scores earned the students on each team respective scholarships of $7,500 and $5,000 to either Ohio Technical College, Universal Technical Institute or the School of Automotive Machinists & Technology.

Biffar had high praise for his students, noting the amount of effort they put in during the months leading up to the championships.

“We’ve been practicing two to three times per team a week after school,” Biffar said. “They hit it extremely hard this year. Practice times were about the same as the teams I took last year, but the performance at nationals, both teams, outperformed both teams that went last year. We set a new school record.”

He further praised both teams for their times.

“The one team did exactly what I was hoping they would do, cracked just under the 27 mark being the first time there, and the other team just blew it out of the water,” Biffar said.

Ainsley Stolarik is one of the students who performed on the younger team, and she spoke positively about her experience at the championships, noting how the team was really able to excel as they overcame an initial bout of nerves.

“We all went in pretty nervous for how we would do, but our first run was pretty good, and we did better than expected,” Stolarik said. “We even got a comment on our score sheet when we go it back that our teamwork was good.”

With plans to do some kind of trade work – she expressed an interest in welding though her experience at the PRI show has also drawn her toward automotives – Stolarik voiced her hopes for the team’s performance next year given how well they did in December.

“It feels pretty good because we went in not thinking we would do all that well, and we wound up beating half or over half of the teams that were there on our first year,” Stolarik said. “Next year we can come back and do better at it too.”

Evan Chaffin is one of the older students who placed 6th at the competition. He, too, noted how the team was quite nervous going into the event, though they persevered and performed excellently.

“At the start, since we kind of knew what to expect, I feel like we were a little bit nervous and making sure that we would perform how we’ve been training,” Chaffin said. “After our first round, we noticed that it was pretty clean and a decent time. After that, I feel like we got that confidence.”

Chaffin is also looking to do some mechanics work in the future as he pursues a technical school. He was quite pleased with the team’s placement in the competition.

“I’m really happy to be top 10, let alone sixth place,” Chaffin said. “Knowing that we were the first team to be able to go and do that… to be able to get to the point that we’re at is really intense.”