The Indiana Ultimate Apprenticeship Contest, held Sept. 14-16 in Evansville, included a few firsts. Patrick Posthauer, last year’s overall winner from Lafayette, defended his championship at this year’s event, and the safety and fire life safety categories made their debuts.

As part of the Ultimate Apprenticeship Contest, three apprentices chosen from different areas of the state, including Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Evansville, Lafayette, South Bend, Fort Wayne and Gary, compete in architectural, fire life safety, industrial, HVAC and print reading/safety categories. Although the contest is open to all apprentices, typically second- through fifth-year students compete. After all competition scores are tallied, three overall winners are crowned. In addition to the 21 apprentices in competition, the overall winner from the previous year is invited back to defend their title if they are still considered an apprentice.

This year, Posthauer, a fourth-year apprentice, returned to competition and was the first in the history of the contest to repeat with first place overall. Jeremy Fears, a fifth-year apprentice from Terre Haute, placed in second with Justin Sutliff, a third-year apprentice also from Terre Haute, in third place.

Category winners include Posthauer, architectural; Posthauer, fire life safety; Nathan Howard, a fifth-year apprentice from Evansville, industrial; Fears, HVAC; and Fears, print reading/safety.

The safety and fire life safety categories were new this year. To compete in the safety category, students studied the Sheet Metal Safety Handbook from the SMOHIT and completed questions based on that information.

“We wanted to do some things a little different this year including fire life safety and safety,” said Ricky Coleman, training coordinator for SMART Local 20. “I think the apprentices appreciate the value of inspecting dampers, and we’re trying to get them to be more safety conscious.”