The RescUKats, the University of Kentucky’s Mine Rescue Team, won the Spring 2019 Eastern Collegiate Mine Rescue Competition. The competition was hosted by Penn State University at the Penn State Agricultural Arena in State College, Pennsylvania, March 29-30. Competitive mine rescue teams from West Virginia University, Penn State University, Virginia Tech and UK participated.
The competition had two events: a written exam and a mine rescue problem. UK placed first in combined event scores.
The RescUKats credit their success to their trainer, Danny Knott—Madisonville Community College Director of Mine Rescue and National Coal Mine Rescue Hall of Fame member; their faculty advisor, Steven Schafrik; and, most importantly, their sponsors: Alliance Coal, Blackhawk Mining, Rhino Resource Partners, Kentucky Coal Association, Friends of Coal, the Western Kentucky Mining Institute, Central Appalachian Section of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME), the Coal and Energy Division of the SME and the Central Appalachian Regional Education and Research Center.
