Ephrata High School, Lancaster County, drove away with the top prize at this year's Electric Go-Cart Competition held May 18 at the Carlisle Fairgrounds in Cumberland County.

Primary sponsors of the event were Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. and Metropolitan Edison Co./Pennsylvania Electric Co., with support from the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Carlisle Productions.

High school students in 25 schools across the state participated in the event, which was open to the public free of charge. Fifteen schools were from PP&L's service area.

Teams were judged in four categories:

• An endurance test to measure the number of laps each go-cart could complete in a one-hour period;
• A safety, quality and design test to measure the quality of construction, safety features, integrity of moving parts and quality of electrical connections;
• An acceleration test timed over a specific course to measure the performance of the go-cart from a standing start;
• An oral presentation by one or two students from each team. Each presentation included the team's race strategy, preparation efforts, the safety features of the go-cart and the lessons learned by team members in the process.

Winners in the four categories were:

Endurance:

• First place: Ephrata High School, Ephrata
• Second place: tie between Columbia-Montour AVTS, Bloomsburg; and Dieruff High School, Allentown
• Third place: tie between Greater Johnstown Area Career & Technology Center, Johnstown; and Warren County Career Center, Warren

Safety and Design:

• First place: tie between Reading-Muhlenberg AVTS, Reading; and Warren County Career Center, Warren
• Second place: tie between Northern Tier Career Center, Tawanda; and Dauphin County AVTS, Harrisburg
• Third place: Valley View High School, Archibald

Acceleration:

• First place: Carbon County Vo Tech, Jim Thorpe
• Second place: Ephrata High School, Ephrata
• Third place: Donegal High School, Mount Joy

Oral:

• First place: Valley View High, Archibald
• Second place: Venango County Vo Tech, Oil City
• Third place: Columbia-Montour AVTS, Bloomsburg

The overall top five winners were: Ephrata High School, Columbia Montour AVTS, Greater Johnston Career & Technology Center, Dieruff High School and Valley View High School.

Trophies were awarded to first, second and third-place winners in each of the four events. A special trophy was awarded to the overall competition winner. Each participating school received a plaque.