By Alan Sorensen
by Alan Sorensen
The Havre Daily News
Wednesday, May 12
Two of Havre High Schools top automotive students came away with fifth-place honors at the Montana high school Ford AAA Student Auto Skills National Quality Care Challenge in Helena last weekend.
The duo of Bobby Sheppard and Jeremy Couch were the sixth consecutive HHS auto troubleshooters to qualify for the select competition.
Students across the state took a comprehensive written exam on Feb. 23. Only the top 10 entries from that competition made it to the final round in Helena on May 5 and 6.
The teams competed in a timed contest to diagnose and repair an intentionally disabled 1999 Ford Taurus.
Sheppard and Couch made just three tiny mistakes as time ran out, Couch said. They were one spark plug and one fuse short and hadnt installed the evap canister purge valve.
Sheppard and Couch were accompanied to their competition by HHS automotive instructor Tim Obresley.
Obresley said some of the credit for the boys fine showing at the state competition should go to Havre Ford for the loan of a car for the boys to practice on. He also thanked the Hi-Line Cruzn Association for paying the boys $50 entry fee.
The contest sponsors paid for the teams travel to Helena, the trios meals, and their lodging.
Sheppard is the son of Larry Sheppard and Carolyn Sheppard of Havre, and Couch is the son of Calvin and Aileen Couch.
