Team Information
Location: Fayetteville, North Carolina
Established: 1867
Enrollment: 6,726
Mascots: The Bronco
Fayetteville State University, home of the Bronco, has competed in two previous Winter Classics with their first outing in 2022. They took 2023 off, re-tooled, and came back strong in 2024, finishing only three points out of fourth place.
This year, they’re bringing two teams to the party and looking to build on the success of last year. This team, Bronco 2, has four members and they’re all seniors (we think), like their 2024 team. We’ll learn more about them as the competition proceeds, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them among the top teams again this year.
2025 Team Bronco 2 Roster
Daniel Apaza: "I am a computer science major in my senior year at Fayetteville State University. When I'm not in class or doing homework, I enjoy being outside, hiking, fishing, running, and going to the beach. I also enjoy spending time with my wife and our family, we are moving from North Carolina to Florida in May, so we are excited about that!"
Brock Blanks
Zachary Martin: "I am a computer science major and a senior at FSU. I am always interested and looking into different technology specifically in the computer market. Always looking for a way to improve my computer and my daily life."
Amire Young
Coaches/Faculty Advisors: Dr. Albert Chan, Dr. Mingxian Jin
First Interview: This team is also chock full of students who are new to HPC and drinking from the firehose that is the Winter Classic. We met each of the students and kicked around how much fun it was to watch 16.5 hours of HPC training and then take an exam on it. The team did well in the competition up to this point, sixth on LINPACK, but slipped to ninth on HPCG (what is it with Fayetteville State and HPCG?)
We were joined by HPE’s HPC/AI Global Services Leader, Patrick Porto, on this interview. He gave the students valuable advice about HPC job search and the value of contacts and recommendations from folks in the industry. Great stuff and a hard working team.
Bronco-2 follow up: We had an interesting and dramatic late competition check in with Team Bronco-2. So what did they think of the Oak Ridge Quantum Challenge? Mind bending and hard to get a handle on in only a week. Absolutely right on that score. That one could have (should have) been tackled over two weeks rather than one. Next year, if Oak Ridge wants to take another wild journey like this, they’ll get two weeks if they need it.
Throughout the interview, it was clear that the students learned a lot during the competition. Their skills vastly improved in ways that won’t show up on the scoreboard. Like the majority of participants in these events, these students have come from not knowing really anything about HPC to the point where they want to see if they can start their career in it. That’s what this thing is all about.
On the drama side. Towards the end of the interview, Brock seemed distracted – and for good reason. He noticed that there was a tornado watch issued for his area, which was upgraded to a tornado warning very quickly. But he stuck with the interview. I was inspired to add some special effects to illustrate Brock’s dilemma and then to highlight Daniel’s future in rescue helicopter