Ten teams from area high schools competed, with the following results:

Longest Single Throw:

• 1st place Depew High School, 672 ft.
• 2nd place Clarence High School, 439 ft.
• 3rd place Hamburg High School, 393 ft.

Combined Throws (Total):

• 1st place Depew High School, 1,725 ft.
• 2nd place Clarence High School, 1,178 ft.
• 3rd place Forestville High School, 1,134 ft.

There was a five-way tie between Forestville; Fredonia; Hamburg; Harkness East and Williamsville South for the Storming The Castle honors.

Depew, Williamsville South and Forestville shared the “Team Spirit” Award.

Area high school technology teams have been working for weeks to design and build trebuchets (pronounced treb-yeh-SHETs) to compete in this weekend’s 14th annual Pumpkin Catapult Contest, as part of The Great Pumpkin Farm’s Fall Festival. Twelve teams from area schools are scheduled to compete for distance and accuracy and with enough precision to win cash prizes and trophies for their schools and prestige for their teams.

The competition starts at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 20, with winners being announced at approximately 3:00 p.m.*

Here is a list of competing schools:

• Clarence
• Depew
• Forestville
• Fredonia
• Hamburg
• Harkness East
• Harkness West
• Holland
• Newfane
• North Tonawanda
• Pioneer
• Williamsville South

*NOTE: Media can call Nancy Cardillo at 716.472.6728 after 1:30 p.m. Sunday to get a better idea of the time the winners will be announced.

A trebuchet is a slingshot-like weapon used in medieval siege warfare that relies only on counterweight – no springs, motors, or agents like gun powder – to hurl large stones or other missiles. In this competition, pumpkins are the “missiles.”

Teams are required to design, build and test their trebuchet using knowledge learned in math, science and technology courses. Trebuchets must be constructed only of wood and the hardware necessary for assembly; no other materials can be used, except for reinforcement of gussets and load-bearing areas, and trebuchets must meet requirements set forth by the rules of the contest.

Cash prizes are awarded for the longest distance shot, highest total combined shots and for “storming the castle”(hitting a target 150 feet away). All teams receive a plaque for participating.

Students from Depew High School took two of the top three honors last year (for the second consecutive year): Longest Single Throw (687 feet) and Combined Throws (total of 2,004 feet). Pioneer Central took the Storming the Castle trophy.