A team from Statesville Christian School in Statesville, N.C. won the Team America Rocketry Challenge Saturday, dedicating the victory to two team members who died in separate car accidents.

The team -- Myles Dunlap, Will Cobb, and Michael Goetz -- beat out 99 other squads of middle and high school students facing off in the final round of the world's largest rocket contest. The team's score of 1.79 reflected a perfect altitude of 800 feet and just shy of two seconds off the target flight time of 45 seconds. The winning rocket bore the names of Nathan Peeler and John Nichols, former teammates who worked on the contest but died tragically before the final competition.

"It was really hard to go on at first," Dunlap said. "But we decided we would press on and dedicate it to them."

Notre Dame Academy in Toledo, Ohio took second place with a score of 1.93, while West Point/Beemer Junior/Senior High School in West Point, Neb. placed third with a score of 2.91. The winners shared a prize pool of more than $60,000 with other top finishers. The team also won a trip to the Farnborough International Airshow near London in July, a new prize paid for by Aerospace Industries Association member company Raytheon.

It was the fourth year for the contest, a joint effort between AIA and the National Association of Rocketry sponsored by NASA, the Defense Department, the Civil Air Patrol and 39 AIA member companies.

AIA President and CEO John Douglass said the contest was a great success in its goal of attracting young people to careers in the aerospace field.

"These middle and high school students showed their ability to take mathematics and physics concepts and apply them to the real world," Douglass said. "I applaud not only the winners, but every student who took part and the teachers and mentors who helped along the way."

The final included about 500 students on teams from schools and community groups like scout troops and 4-H clubs. About 7,000 students from 678 teams around the country participated in TARC qualifying rounds. Since the contest started in 2003 about 33,000 students have taken part.

Last year a team from Dakota County 4-H in Farmington, Minn. took first place. Complete results will be posted on the web.

FMI: www.rocketcontest.org