2 Mormon teens named America's Best Student Auto Technicians

DEARBORN, Mich. — Two Mormon teenagers earned the title of America's Best Student Auto Technicians when they came in first at the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Competition in June.

Matthew Saunders and Drew Torrey are both from the Vale 2nd Ward, Nyssa Oregon Stake, and recently graduated from Vale High School.

Two-person teams from all of the 50 states took a 100-question written exam and were timed as they identified 14 bugs in a 2011 Ford F-150 XLT truck.

Saunders and Torrey identified all of the bugs in 58 minutes and six seconds and didn't have any demerits for workmanship, according to a news release.

"I was pretty nervous when they were judging the car," Saunders said of the competition. The bugs on their truck included the windshield washer motor being unplugged, one of the coils was unplugged and misfiring, and the truck didn't start.

"Vale has always had a good automotive program," Torrey said of the school's program that has seen its teams win the state competition 24 times and had top 10 finishes 17 times at the national contest. "I set a goal to be at the top, and I worked and worked until I got there."

Two days after the June 14 competition, Torrey received his mission call to the Arcadia California Mission and will report to the Missionary Training Center in September.

Saunders is expecting to put in his mission papers in the next few weeks.

Both Saunders and Torrey grew up on farms, and Saunders says he helped to get tools for his older brothers when he was little. Saunders is the 11th of 13 children, and his oldest brother won the national title in 1992 and another won fifth place in 2003.

Email: rappleye@desnews.com