Apprentices Highlighted During Masonry Madness 2016

Words: Dan Kamys[caption id="attachment_12189" align="alignnone" width="300"]Lane Mullis from McGee Brothers Company, Monroe, N.C., won Third Year First Place in the Skills Challenge. Lane Mullis from McGee Brothers Company, Monroe, N.C., won Third Year First Place in the Skills Competition.[/caption] The 17th annual Masonry Skills Challenge, held February 3, 2016, during the MCAA Convention at the World of Concrete/World of Masonry in Las Vegas, showed off the best apprentices our industry has to offer. The Masonry Skills Challenge is a competition of masonry apprentices in first, second and third year skill levels. The contest is a showcase for skills training in the masonry industry, challenging winning apprentices from regional U.S. and foreign competitions to determine the top masonry apprentice at each level. This exciting competition spotlights our industry’s finest young masons and focuses attention on careers in the masonry industry. Each contestant was presented with a project drawing appropriate to their skill level just moments before the competition began. Contestants only had three hours to construct the project based on the materials provided. The final projects looked great; the apprentices should be very proud of their three hours of hard work. The judges were impressed with the quality of the apprentices’ construction, and had the tough decision of choosing the winners. The top-placing contestants for each skill level were as follows: FIRST YEAR APPRENTICES FIRST PLACE Chaz Tomberlin McGee Brothers Company Monroe, N.C. SECOND PLACE Andrew Siefert JP Cullen & Sons, Inc. Janesville, Wisc. THIRD PLACE Jaris McClurg WASCO, Inc. Knoxville, Tenn. SECOND YEAR APPRENTICES FIRST PLACE Heath Maclean WASCO, Inc. Nashville, Tenn. SECOND PLACE Mack O’Dell Fort Scott Community College Pittsburg, Kan. THIRD PLACE Ken Hernandez Vandermay Construction Kalamazoo, Mich. THIRD YEAR APPRENTICES FIRST PLACE Lane Mullis McGee Brothers Company Monroe, N.C. SECOND PLACE Neal Hydeman D & D Masonry Kansas City, Mo. THIRD PLACE Nicholas Bracy Bracy & Jahr Quincy, Mich. All winners received trophies, cash prizes, and Marshalltown Company tool bags. First place winners also received engraved trowels from Marshalltown Company and concrete calculators from Calculated Industries. All contestants received a level from competition sponsor Stabila and additional prizes. For more information about the competition, its sponsors and contributors, please visit www.masonryskillschallenge.com.
Tim O’Toole is the Director of Marketing, Education, and Information Technology for the MCAA.
GEN NXT: Mason Paolini
May 2026

This month, the MCAA got to talk with Mason Paolini, a mason who has a clear passion and talent for the trade he has such high praise for. Read about Mason’s story and why he sees a future in this industry. Mason Paolini’s career began with a simple desi

Justin Stengel
GEN NXT
Read More
Marvelous Masonry: Tianjin Zhongshuge Library
May 2026

It is not unusual today for masonry to be treated as a surface decision rather than a structural one. Too often, brick enters a project late in the process, trimmed back by budgets or reduced to a veneer once the “real” building work is finished. The Tian

Cass Stern
Marvelous Masonry
Read More
Fechino Files: Concrete Pavers around a Pool
May 2026

Many folks over the years have placed concrete pavers around their pool as a nice form of decorative pool deck. Early in the 2000’s, I took a class held by the Interlocking Concrete Paver Institute, then known as the ICPI. At the time I attended the class

Steven Fechino
Fechino Files
Read More
Chairman's Message: Staying the Course
May 2026

Spring is one of my favorite times of year. There’s energy in the air. Jobs are picking up. Crews are hitting their rhythm. Schedules are filling up. You can feel momentum building again. And every year around this time, I find myself thinking about con

Kent Huntley
Chairman’s Message
Read More