Science Olympiad takes third at state, wraps up year
Senior Mackenzie Gwinner and junior Owen Li wait as the airplane they designed and created is measured by an official at the state competition last Saturday at Wichita State University. The pair’s plane went on to take first in the Wright Stuff event. “For Wright Stuff, once we got there I knew from watching the other teams’ flights that we would do fairly well and place in the top three at least,” Li said. “We were pretty close to taking State last year, so we thought winning the whole thing was reasonable and we were so close to it.”
April 4, 2016
Losing its class at the beginning of the year and unable to meet as a complete team for a year, the Manhattan High Science Olympiad team made it to the state competition at Wichita State on Saturday. The team placed second in Large Schools Division C and placed third overall.
“We missed third place by 10 points,” coach Pat Lamb said. “So it was really, really close.”
The team struggled to meet as a team. Due to funding issues, Science Olympiad lost its course and had to meet on Saturdays to prepare for state.
“Of all those Saturdays,” Lamb said, “not one time did we have our members together for one reason or another. It was just hard to get everybody together. This [Science Olympiad] is definitely a team thing.”
This led to Science Olympiad members studying alone for most of the year despite competition being done in groups of two or three, but having little partner time did not stop the team.
“As far as effort, our guys did great,” Lamb said. “Manhattan always does [a great job]. Our kids are good. They worked hard. It’s just we could really use that course where we’re seeing everybody.”
As well as third overall, the team won 11 medals in various competitions.
“This is state and, I mean, it is tough,” Lamb said. “When you get to state and you get a medal, you’ve earned it.”
Senior Sam Morgan said he enjoyed his time with the team, even without a trip to nationals.
“[A win] would have meant a lot, especially this year,” Morgan said. “It would have been amazing to take our team to Nationals for the first time, and to do that in Mr. Lamb’s final year would have been even better.”
State was not only Science Olympiad’s last competition of the school year, but it was also Lamb’s last competition as a coach.
“Last year here and I’m proud of them,” Lamb said. “I think they worked hard. You know, I’m just proud of Manhattan High altogether. These guys have a little something special in my heart.”
Senior Rebecca Hennesy said she was grateful to have the coaches she did.
“I truly believe that if we could have had that class this year the team would be preparing for Nationals right now,” she said. “I would also like to thank all of our amazing coaches, Mr. Nelson, Mr. Ackerman, and Mr. Lamb, for always being there for us — science related or not.”
