The seven-member ISU Odyssey of the Mind team traveled to the University of Maryland on June 4 and returned to Iowa as world champions.

The team won first place in their event, “Balloonacy Cars,” at the yearly competition, which is geared for stimulating problem-solving skills in creative ways.

Before the competition, team members received their event problem and went to work on a solution. Their solution, the “Balloonacy Cars” event, had a course for small, self-propelled cars.

The object of the course was to pop balloons, which were strategically placed at the side of the road, with straight pins that were attached to the cars. The difficult part was designing a car to accomplish this feat.

Three cars were designed by ISU’s team for the competition. The first car was powered by a computer chip, the second car was motorized by a lawn mower’s recoil pulley and the third car was controlled with rubber bands.

The three cars were designed by team members Brian Witte, Scott Petersen, Leanne Manuell and sister Andrea Manuell, all from Plymouth Minn.; Scott Murphy of Omaha, NE; Josh Stoakes of Traer and Nick Bofferding of Rochester, Minn.

Out of the 400 points possible, the ISU team scored 319.

“There was only one other team we were worried about — the University of Texas in Austin,” Witte said.

Witte, a senior in zoology, has been involved in the Odyssey of the Mind competitions since junior high and high school.

In addition to this year’s competition, Witte entered two other Odyssey of the Mind college competitions. He participated in 1995 when the team placed 3rd and in 1996 when they placed 2nd.

“This whole thing is really about creative problem-solving and teamwork.” Witte said.

He feels that Odyssey of the Mind has made a positive impact on how he deals with these things in everyday life.

“Everyone thinks in a certain way, and when you are trying to solve a problem in a creative way, it really helps to work with a team because everyone offers different perspectives. It’s really exciting.” Witte said.

Next year’s competition will take place in Orlando, Fla.

Because several team members have recently graduated, the ISU team hasn’t decided if they will participate in next year’s competition.