Boyceville High School Science Olympiad finishes as fourth place team at state tournament

MILWAUKEE — Boyceville High School’s Science Olympiad team competed at the Wisconsin State Tournament at UW-Milwaukee on Saturday, April 13 and finished as the fourth place overall school out of the 44 teams that qualified for state, earning a team trophy for the fifth consecutive year.   With a high school enrollment of around 220 students, Boyceville was one of the smallest high schools to qualify a team for state.  In addition to the team award, BHS won the Team Spirit Award for the first time at the state tournament, which is voted on by the event supervisors and last year’s winning team.

State Championships were earned by senior Zach Klassen and junior Ian Kane in both Elastic Launch Glider and Gravity Vehicle and by Kane and junior Peter Duerst in Robot Arm.  A state championship gold medal was also earned by seniors Matt Leach and Patrick O’Connell in Elastic Launch Glider, as their team (Boyceville JV-B) was an exhibition team.  State runner-ups were earned by Duerst and senior Matthew Wathke in Remote Sensing, sophomores Hannah Jerrie and Nolan Windsor in Forensics, Duerst and freshman Luke Timper in Codes and Algorithms, and Mathew Wathke and junior Nick Wathke in Magnetic Levitation.  A state runner-up was also earned by Leach and freshman Brandon Windsor in Magnetic Levitation as an exhibition team.  State bronze medals were earned by Duerst and Matthew Wathke in both Astronomy and Radio Lab and seniors Kysa Franseen and Jodie Sauer in Rocks & Minerals.  State fourth place medals were earned by juniors Dylan Windsor and Clayton Windsor in Material Science, Duerst and Matthew Wathke in Technical Problem Solving, and freshmen Andrew Marshall and Maddy Bygd in Magnetic Levitation (exhibition) and Leach and Brandon Windsor in Gravity Vehicle (exhibition).  A fifth place medal was earned by juniors Catelynn Clark, Danielle Nelson, and Timper in Experimental Design.  A sixth place medal was earned by Franseen and senior Isaac Boyd in Water Quality as well as Leach and junior Katarina Fuerstenberg in Boomilever (exhibition).

“I am so proud of all of our students stepping up after losing so many students to graduation last year” said Boyceville head coach Andy Hamm.  “Our seniors stepped out of the shadow cast by last year’s seniors and made their own mark on the program, highlighted by another top team finish at state as well as the team spirit award, which I think epitomizes our team perfectly.”  “Every single student on our varsity team earned at least one medal at the state tournament for the first time, and the seniors have done an outstanding job of leading the younger students to success, both in and out of the classroom.”

Boyceville would like to thank 3M, Fairmont Minerals, The Hostetter Family, and the entire Boyceville Community and School District for their support of the Science Olympiad program in Boyceville this season.

Final Results of the 2013 
Wisconsin High School Science Olympiad State Tournament
1. Madison West 78
2. Menomonie 112
3. Marshfield 196
4. Boyceville 199
5. Waunakee 223
6. Medford 227
7. West Allis Nathan Hale 230
8. Racine Prairie 243
9. Brookfield Central 277
10. Wausau West 289
11. Verona 306
12. Mt. Horeb 328
13. Lakeland Union 335
14. Platteville 373
15. New Richmond 393
16. Spring Valley 405
17. Madison Memorial 406
18. Slinger 408
19. Athens 435
20. Oregon 453
21. Marshall 466
22. Middleton 468
23. Cambridge 485
24. Waterford Union 489
25. Shell Lake 492
26. Shorewood 535
27. Elk Mound 536
28. Hartford Union 563
29. Neenah 572
30. Sheboygan North 583
31. Baraboo 587
32. Madison Country Day 593
33. Pittsville 602
34. Whitnall 604
35. Stevens Point 650
36. Tomah 658
37. Brookfield East 669
38. Sparta 683
39. Madison Edgewood 719
40. Eleva-Strum 808
41. Wisconsin Dells 857
42. Stanley-Boyd 862
43. Mercer 987
44. Beloit Turner 1035