Yuma, Kofa place in state auto competition

  A pair of Yuma High students placed third Friday in a statewide competition that tested their auto repair skills, while a Kofa High team placed sixth.

 Teams from 10 high schools around the state had to diagnose and repair identically "bugged" vehicles for a chance to win more than $100,000 in scholarships to automotive proprietary schools and programs in the AAA/Ford Motor Company Student AutoSkills Challenge. The competition was held at the Firebird International Raceway in Chandler, Ariz.

   The Yuma High team consisted of Eric Fajardo and Cyrus Bloxham, while the Kofa team consisted of Manuel Gutierrez and Garrett Lundin.

   As third-place finishers, the Yuma High students received scholarships and auto tools, said AAA spokeswoman Amber Giuliano. The amount of the scholarships was not immediately available Friday.

   Don Nunnari, vice president of membership products and services for AAA Arizona, said challenge is held to encourage students to pursue automotive service technician careers.

  Lundin and Gutierrez previously competed against 36 high school teams from the United States and Canada in a similar competition, National Automotive Technology Competition, held in New York City in March.

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Jennifer Lovell can be reached at
jlovell@yumasun.com or 539-6849.