A.C. Jones High School welding students captured first place in the plate welding and second place in pipe welding at the eighth annual Pipe Fitting Rodeo high school welding contest held on the Richard M. Borchard Regional Fairgrounds. This contest was a feature of the 77th annual Nueces County Junior Livestock Show.

The first place plate welding team consisted of Dakota Del Bosque and Adam Treviño. The second place pipe fabrication/welding team included Garrett Bond, Cuatro Schauer, James Scotten and Peyton Tabb.

John Lopez and Bryan Webb also competed as a team in the plate welding division, along with Andres Gaitan, who also attended the contest and is looking forward to next year’s competition.

Beeville was pitted against eight area high schools at this year’s event. The main emphasis of the contest is on the practice of the strict safety standards required in industry and extensive welding inspection that was used in examining the welds produced by these student welders.

There were certified welding inspectors on hand to judge both the plate and pipe welds. Time limits were a requirement of each weld, along with the proper fabrication of the pipe, flange and welded fittings based in a specific blueprint that was presented to each pipe welding team. The welds were judged visually for defects along with X-rays of the pipe welds to check for proper welding techniques and quality of work.