UF MBA wins Race and Case Competition

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A team of four UF MBA students won the Race and Case Competition hosted by the University of Denver from February 24-25.

The four-member team from UF MBA consisted of Michelle Gassman, Mark Jacobs, Kevin Potts and Kimberly Zwerner. UF MBA came out on top against MBA programs from Georgia Tech, London Business School, Rice, Southern California, Vanderbilt, Wisconsin and others.

The case portion of the competition, which focused on business ethics, made up 90% of a team’s overall score. The other 10% was made up from a ski race held at the EpicMix Ski Arena. This was the 14th year the competition has been in existence.

“Heading to Colorado, we had no idea what to expect since this was the first time the UF MBA program has participated in the Race and Case,” Gassman said. “The combination of a business case study with an alpine ski race makes this competition one of a kind, and we are so excited to bring the Race & Case Cup home to Florida.”

The victory meant even more for the team considering their travel issues. They were scheduled to land in Denver on Thursday, but their plane had an engine problem that forced the flight to be cancelled. After some uncertainty from the airline about being able to get the team to Denver by the start of the competition on Friday morning, they went through 14 hours of travel and multiple flight changes to make it to Denver just before the competition began.

The win was another important victory for UF MBA early in competition season. Three distinct UF MBA teams have won three different competitions already this spring, and two of them have come in national competitions.