GILLETTE — Two Sweetwater County students brought home top finishes at the National Welding Competition hosted by Western Welding Academy on May 2 in Gillette, where hundreds of high school welders from across the country competed for scholarships, prizes and national recognition.

Jaydon Walther of Green River High School placed 15th, earning a grinder, two welding hoods, a box of spray chemicals, welding gloves, a welding jacket and pliers. Noah Hymas of Rock Springs High School placed 13th, taking home two welding hoods, a welding shirt, a case of CRC chemicals, a grinder, welding gloves and a thermos.

Competitors were required to complete an open root 2G groove plate weld using shielded metal arc welding, commonly known as stick welding, in under an hour. Afterward, students could attempt downhill pipe welding and TIG welding on steel pipe and plate.

All 30 Sweetwater County participants, 10 from Green River and 20 from Rock Springs, received a $1,000 scholarship to Western Welding Academy.

The two schools traveled to Gillette together, and Rock Springs High School welding instructor Greg Buel said that spirit carried into the competition floor.

“It’s not us versus them,” Buel said.

Buel said the event is less about rivalry and more about preparing students for careers in the trades. He noted that the United States is currently short roughly 1 million skilled laborers, a gap he expects to grow as the workforce ages.

“While I try to write a good curriculum, job experience is best,” Buel said. “That’s why this competition is so good.”