Just like in sports, momentum is a real factor in Science Olympiad. After a season of ups and downs, there couldn’t be a better place for MHS SciOly to be. Looking forward to Regionals on Feb. 20, MHS is coming off of a fourth place finish at the Oak Park Invitational. Pembroke Hill, Olathe North and Blue Valley West placed first, second and third respectively.
Not only did MHS continue the success they’d had all season in Rocks and Minerals, Remote Sensing, Dynamic Planets, Material Science and Water Quality, they also won an event they hadn’t come close to all season: Boomilever.
“Where we were struggling is where the boomilever is resting on a bolt that is mounted on the wall, because that part is being pulled and so that’s where most of your force is carried through,” senior Jack Dunning said. “In this past tournament, that’s what we beefed up a lot. We got some stronger wood, put a lot more on it, just to really centralize our strength there. And so that’s what pushed us over, and that was how we were able to come out on top.”
While MHS placed fourth, they easily could have moved up a spot to third if luck was on their side.
“In Astronomy, the people competing claimed to have written their name on the test, but when it went through it got counted as our team not competing in it,” sophomore Michael Amama said. “Somewhere along the way of them grading it, they didn’t catch their names, and then we got disqualified from that event.”
This meet was the last regular season meet for MHS, and therefore the last meet for Junior Varsity.
“We have some very strong freshmen that will be very key to the team next year,” coach Doug Andresen said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing what they’ll bring next year when they compete. It’s probably the best JV season I’ve seen in the seven years I’ve been coaching.”
For Varsity, coming up next is regionals, and MHS must defend the title of champions.
‘I’m feeling pretty confident,” Amama said. “All of the people have lots of work to do, but I think everyone in the team is very motivated, and we’re going to start coming to practice very often, doing a lot of practice tests. I’m feeling very good about regionals.”
For Dunning, a win at Regionals would be the perfect finish of a rocky season.
“I mean, I think that there were some ups and some downs this season, ” Dunning said. “I think we definitely got some really good newer people involved that really push themselves. I think there are places that we could have done a lot better, but I think [the season] has been pretty good overall.”