Local high school teams/students top finishers at Science Olympiad held at UW-River Falls

RIVER FALLS — Nearly 500 students from 18 Minnesota and Wisconsin high schools competed in the second annual Science Olympiad Border Battle held at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls on Jan. 19.

The event, organized by UW-RF physics Professor Earl Blodgett, featured 36 high school teams competing in 23 National Science Olympiad events as well as five trial events specific to Wisconsin.

Medals were awarded to the top four finishers in both divisions (based on school size) in all 28 events in the tournament. In addition, team trophies were awarded to the top four teams in each division.  Team results are listed below. Visit http://www.uwrf.edu/PHYS/olympiad/Awards.cfm for a complete list of all awards and additional information.

• The Mounds View, Minn., High School Goats Team finished first overall in the tournament and first in their division.

• The Menomonie High School Maroon Team finished second overall and second in their division.

• The Boyceville High School Purple Team finished third overall and first in their division. (A listing of team members is below followed by individual medal winners.)

• The Eastview, Minn., High School Thunder Team finished 4th overall and third in their division.

• The Woodbury, Minn., High School team finished 5th overall and 4th in their division.

• The Medford High School Red Team placed second in their division and 7th overall.

• The New Richmond High School Black Team placed third in their division and 12th overall.

• The Lakeland Union High School White Team placed 4th in their division and 13th overall.

Team members on the Boyceville Purple Team included Kysa Franseen, Zach Klassen, Matthew Wathke, Isaac Boyd, Jodie Sauer, Peter Duerst, Ian Kane, Dylan Windsor, Clayton Windsor, Danielle Nelson, Catelynn Clark, Hannah Jerrie, Nolan Windsor, and Luke Timper.

First place medal winners from Boyceville High School include Peter Duerst, Matthew Wathke in Astronomy; Isaac Boyd, Ian Kane in Boomilevers; Tanner Johnson-Hetchler, Nick Wathke in Circuit Lab; Ian Kane, Zach Klassen in Elastic Launch Gliders; Catelynn Clark, Danielle Nelson, Luke Timper in Experimental Design; Hannah Jerrie, Nolan Windsor in Forensics; Kysa Franseen, Jodie Sauer in Forestry; Noah Edlin, Matt Leach in Gravity Vehicle; Tanner Johnson-Hetchler, Nick Wathke in Magnetic Levitation; Peter Duerst, Matthew Wathke in Radio Lab; Noah Edlin, Matt Leach in Robot Arm; Kysa Franseen, Jodie Sauer in Rocks & Minerals; Isaac Boyd, Kysa Franseen in Sustainability; Peter Duerst, Matthew Wathke in Technical Problem Solving; and, Katelyn Merten, Brittany Tetzlaff in Write It Do It.

Second place medal winners from Boyceville High School include Hannah Jerrie, Luke Timper in Anatomy and Physiology; Anna Jenkins, Alex Wold in Boomilevers; Peter Duerst, Luke Timper in Codes & Algorithms; Noah Edlin and Matt Leach in Elastic Launch Gliders; Anna Jenkins, Michaella Kegen, Alex Wold in Experimental Design; Katelyn Merten, Brittany Tetzlaff in Forestry; Ian Kane, Zach Klassen in Gravity Vehicle; Zach Klassen, Matthew Wathke in Magnetic Levitation; Tanner Johnson-Hetchler, Nick Wathke in Radio Lab; Peter Duerst, Matthew Wathke in Remote Sensing; and, Isaac Boyd, Kysa Franseen in Water Quality.

Third place medal winners from Boyceville High School include Noah Edlin, Matt Leach in Boomilevers; Zach Klassen, Luke Timper in Circuit Lab; Isaac Boyd, Kysa Franseen in Designer Genes; Tanner Johnson-Hetchler, Nick Wathke in Elastic Launch Gliders; Tanner Johnson-Hetchler, Nick Wathke in Gravity Vehicle; Noah Edlin, Matt Leach in Magnetic Levitation; Clayton Windsor, Dylan Windsor in Materials Science; Ian Kane, Zach Klassen in Mystery Engineering; and, Clayton Windsor, Dylan Windsor in Thermodynamics.

Fourth place medal winners from Boyceville High School include Maddy Bygd, Andrew Marshall in Codes & Algorithms; and, Patrick O’Connell, Tyler Wolfe in Radio Lab.

About Science Olympiad

In its 30th year, Science Olympiad has become the largest team science and technology competition in North America and has been recognized as a model program in the National Science Standards by the National Research Council. Unlike many other physics, biology or chemistry competitions, Science Olympiad mixes the various science disciplines of biology, earth science, chemistry, physics and technology together in one competition. For more information about Science Olympiad, visit http://soinc.org/ or http://wisconsinso.org/.