Time and time again, Manhattan High Science Olympiad has finished in fourth place. However, their most recent fourth in Regionals on Feb. 28 stands above the rest.
MHS was only a single point behind Blue Valley West and two short of Blue Valley North, both of which are contenders for the State title. With this, Manhattan qualified for State on April. 4.
Regionals was by far MHS’s most successful performance all season. The team broke the threshold of 100 points that they hadn’t achieved before, instilling confidence in MHS that they can be extremely competitive at State.
“The performance was really good. It’s always really tight with second and third, so we have a pretty good chance of getting first at State,” junior Daniel Wei said.
Wei placed second in Chem Lab, second in Code Busters and first in Material Science. Additionally, MHS placed top-eight in 22 out of the 23 events, a feat that they wish to repeat at State. The outlier event was an 11th place in Circuit Lab, an event that Manhattan is confident they can place much better in.
“When I was going through the papers for Circuit Lab, I tore them off from each other on the staple, which means that I only went through one of the papers and didn’t realize that the other one I left there was actually mine,” sophomore Michael Amama said. “So I ended up not completing that portion of the lab and only realized 30 seconds before the time was up.”
Amama topped the podium in his other two events: Material Science and Forensics. Cleaning up small execution mistakes will be key for a Manhattan High squad looking to win State.
“We’re really close to first. It’s really tight. As for me, just consistency, staying at that level and making sure I don’t slip up on some silly mistake,” Wei said.
An area that MHS has drastically improved in over the course of the season has been Build events. MHS is set on perfecting their Build events before they compete at State.
“It’s been a weak spot this year. We have to improve some of our builds,” coach Doug Andresen said. “So we got to really look at our builds and do some more calibration, do some more tinkering, fix some things, to try and see if we can tighten those scores, to get those times a little bit better so we can move up in placement on those events.”
After a fourth place finish at State last year, Manhattan is determined to come out on top.
“We’re looking forward to State,” Andresen said. “Kids are working hard, and I think we have a good shot at challenging for first place. Whether we make it or not, it’ll come down to how well they perform and how well they can control their nerves.”