MONTEREY, La. — A team of several Monterey High School students will compete Friday in the seventh annual Great Moonbuggy Race at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

And the local team should give the competition a run for their money — they have entered the race for six years and have placed every year. Last year, one of their two buggies won second place.

Beginning Friday morning, Monterey’s team will compete against at least 11 high school teams from across the nation. Twenty-four college teams will compete in another division.

To enter the contest, each team must design and build at least one human-powered test vehicle. The vehicles are designed to address engineering problems faced by the original Marshall Center lunar rover team.

&uot;They learn teamwork, design, physics and aerodynamics — a lot of everything,&uot; said Principal Neeva Sibley.

&uot;It’s hands-on learning, and it teaches them the spirit of competition.&uot;

Joe Evans, a Monterey junior and veteran moonbuggy team member, said there are many benefits to the competition besides recognition. &uot;You learn how to work as a team and build your problem solving skills,&uot;&160;said Evans, who wants to become a welder and has helped weld the buggies together. &uot;And you get to meet kids from all over the nation.&uot;

He also admitted he and fellow team members are on the lookout during such trips for any new ideas they could use the next year.

During the contest, the team must carry the unassembled buggy 20 feet to the starting line and reassemble it. Then two team members, one male and one female, must maneuver the craft over an obstacle course designed to simulate the moon’s surface, complete with craters, rocks and other obstacles. Winners in each category are determined by the fastest assembly time and the fastest time through the course.

Another prize is awarded to the team with the best technical approach to solving engineering problems presented by the lunar surface.

One of the moon buggies Monterey students designed for the 1997 contest is event on display at Stennis Space Center in Bay St. Louis as part of its Mars exhibit.

The team is scheduled to return to Monterey Sunday.