Piedmont Natural Gas technicians wrangle championship title at national rodeo competition

• Piedmont teams take home six awards from the 2023 National Gas Rodeo

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Sept. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A four-person team of Piedmont Natural Gas technicians from Greenville, S.C., wrangled the overall championship title at the 2023 National Gas Rodeo.

This marks the sixth time Piedmont has won the national championship.

"We always aim to bring a championship title home, and our team delivered," said Brian Weisker, senior vice president and chief operations officer for Piedmont Natural Gas. "Agility, speed and safety are integral to serving our customers, and we are proud our teams' dedication to their jobs, peers and customers was on full display."

Piedmont earned first-, second- and third-place honors out of the 40 two-person and four-person teams competing and brought home six awards.

The Greenville, S.C.-based team also earned top honors in the hand dig and relay events. A four-person team from Charlotte, N.C., placed second overall at the competition and best in the pipe-cut event. A two-person team from Greensboro, N.C., earned the third-place overall title.

Teams from energy companies nationwide competed during the Sept. 14-15 event in Springfield, Mo. This annual competition allows natural gas workers to showcase the skills they use daily and to see how they stack up against their industry peers.

The National Gas Rodeo pits two-person and four-person teams against each other in four qualifying events, with the top teams in each category advancing to a final relay event. Qualifying events include the service installation, the meter set, the hand dig and the pipe cut. In the final relay, teams safely race to complete a series of tasks in the fastest time possible.

The rodeo tests job-related skills, builds leadership and boosts morale. Competitors are judged on speed, agility, technique and, most importantly, attention to safety. All Piedmont Natural Gas participants in the National Gas Rodeo earned their spots by competing at an internal competition earlier this year.  

This year's gas rodeo winners are:

• Gas Masters: Cameron Smith, Jamie Exum, Peyton Huff, Chase McCroskey and Mitch Cothran (alternate) of the Greenville, S.C. area.
• Cutline Cowboys: Christian Hernandez, Franyer Koschnny, Brian Trickett, Richard Bradley and Juan Hudson Jr. (alternate) of Charlotte, N.C.
• High Pressure Hitmen: Andy Andrews, Reece Graves and Kenneth State (alternate) of Greensboro, N.C.

Duke Energy, the parent company of Piedmont Natural Gas, will host the 2024 National Gas Rodeo in Northern Kentucky.

Piedmont Natural Gas

Piedmont Natural Gas, a subsidiary of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), distributes natural gas to more than 1.1 million residential, commercial, industrial and power generation customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Piedmont Natural Gas earned the No. 1 spot in customer satisfaction with residential natural gas service in the South among large utilities, according to the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Gas Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, and has been named by Cogent Reports as one of the most trusted utility brands in the U.S. More information: piedmontng.com. Follow Piedmont Natural Gas: Twitter, Facebook.

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SOURCE Piedmont Natural Gas