Ann Arbor Public Schools excelled in the Region 9 Science Olympiad tournament held March 15 at the University of Michigan. Top-placing teams qualified for the State Tournament at Michigan State University on April 26.
Among the five primary teams in the high school division, Pioneer High School placed first, followed by Saline, Huron, Washtenaw International, and Washtenaw Technical Middle College. Among all 10 high school teams entered in the tournament, Pioneer placed 1st, 6th, and 7th, while Huron placed 3rd. Pioneer and Saline received the two state tournament bids.
Pioneer teams won medals in 20 of the 23 events by placing among the top three teams. The Huron team won medals in eight events.
In the middle school division, AAPS schools swept all three state tournament bids, with Slauson taking first, Clague finishing second, and Tappan in third. This was quite an accomplishment for Tappan, which restarted a Science Olympiad program just last year after a hiatus of well over a decade, thanks to the work of parents and support from others in the Science Olympiad community.
Overall, middle schools in the region sent 12 teams to the regional tournament. Slauson’s teams finished 1st and 3rd, Clague’s teams were 2nd and 7th, while Tappan’s team was 6th. Slauson teams received medals in 22 of the 23 events, Clague teams received medals in 18 events, and Tappan received medals in 6 events.
Pioneer teams won medals in the following events:
- Air Trajectory: Jay Bala & Rex Bajcz (1st)
- Anatomy & Physiology: Radhika Bhide & Raymond Li (1st), Audrey Yu & Rachael He (2nd)
- Astronomy: Aaron Kou & Maddy Buza (1st)
- Chemistry Lab: Aaron Kou & Raymond Li (1st)
- Codebusters: Hyunsung Woo, Margaret Hsu, & Michael Wu (1st)
- Disease Detectives: Aurora Janevic & Michael Wu (1st), Kabir Jha & Swarnim Agnihotri (3rd)
- Dynamic Planet: Annabelle Yan & Hyunsung Woo (1st)
- Ecology: Maddy Buza & Theo Sacks-Thomas (2nd)
- Electric Vehicle: Asher Suter & Michael Wu (2nd)
- Entomology: Amy Liu & Radhika Bhide (1st)
- Experimental Design: Aurora Janevic, Maddy Buza, & Vedha Joshi (2nd)
- Forensics: Aaron Kou & Maddy Buza (1st)
- Fossils: Aaron Kou & Theo Sacks-Thomas (1st), Trixie Uhle (2nd)
- Geologic Mapping: Aaron Kou & Hyunsung Woo (1st)
- Helicopter: Asher Suter & Theo Sacks-Thomas (1st)
- Microbe Mission: Amy Liu & Annabelle Yan (1st), Soore Shiyanbola (3rd)
- Optics: Bowen Zou & Erik Saran (3rd)
- Robot Tour: Annabelle Yan & Asher Suter (1st), Rohini Sen & Samuel Matthews (2nd)
- Tower: Asher Suter & Rex Bajcz (1st), Benjamin Olech & Bowen Zou (3rd)
- Wind Power: Jay Bala & Radhika Bhide (3rd)
Slauson students won medals in 22 of the 23 events
- Air Trajectory: (1st) Avantika Gopalsamy, Miko Mitsuboshi (3rd) Caitlin Buza, Ravi Kothari
- Anatomy & Physiology: (2nd) Atharva Bhide, Dhev Kannan
- Code Busters: (2nd) Dylan Wen, Ethan Deng, Kai Ryter
- Crime Busters: (3rd) Dhev Kannan, Sagar Jha
- Disease Detectives: (3rd) Dylan Wen, Sagar Jha
- Dynamic Planet: (1st) Henry Sacks-Thomas, Sagar Jha (2nd) Cecilia Mills, Jack Hu
- Ecology: (1st) Ash Shore, Caitlin Buza
- Entomology: (2nd) Ash Shore, Atharva Bhide (3rd) Cecilia Mills, Iain Hennebury
- Experimental Design: (1st) Huuna Ichikawa, Sagar Jha, Tobey Yon
- Fossils: (2nd) Atharva Bhide, Henry Sacks-Thomas
- Helicopter: (3rd) Henry Sacks-Thomas, Zoe Suter
- Meteorology: (1st) Atharva Bhide, Tobey Yon
- Metric Mastery: (2nd) Kalina Stoev, Ravi Kothari
- Mission Possible: (1st) Anushka Ganesan, Wes Olech (2nd) Ethan Deng, Kalina Stoev
- Optics: (2nd) Ethan Deng, Huuna Ichikawa
- Potions & Poisons: (2nd) Dhev Kannan, Kalina Stoev
- Reach for the Stars: (1st) Dhev Kannan, Evan Xiong (2nd) Alicia You, Jack Hu
- Road Scholar: (1st) Kai Ryter, Kalina Stoev
- Scrambler: (1st) Anbini Premsundar, Iain Hennebury (3rd) Evan Xiong, Ravi Kothari
- Tower: (2nd) Ravi Kothari, Zoe Suter (3rd) Emery Young, Megan Zawistowski
- Wind Power: (1st) Dylan Wen, Ethan Deng
- Write It Do It: (3rd) Jack Hu, Zaara Gani
While Slauson won the middle school division, Clague and Tappan middle schools also qualified for States.
Clague Middle School results
Two Clague teams (Clague A and Clague B) participated in the Region 9 Tournament, with was the first official/elimination tournament of the season. Clague A finished second overall thereby qualifying for the state tournament.
Team Rosters were as follows:
Clague A: Aarav Tirumali, Akshanth Jayakumar, Andre Yang, Anna Xu, Benjamin Wang, Christina Zhang, Claire Svoboda, Dhruv Mankame, Edwin Liang, Ethan Zhu, Hazel Zechar, Kate Wang, Saanvi Kulkarni, Soham Kathula, Vyom Deotare
Clague B: Aadya Desai, Alex Gao, Coralie Martinson, Delaney Zhang, Dhananjay Prasad, Ethan Chen, Hannah Hoff, Hassan Ali Khawar, Henry Peters, Jamie Zuo, Jayani Tavane, Musab Bin Muneeb, Shaun Zhu, Siyona Dalal, Yashika Pant
Medals were awarded for 1-3 positions. The first 3 position holders are as follows:
Disease Detectives 1st place (Clague A): Aarav Tirumali, Saanvi Kulkarni
Entomology 1st place (Clague A): Dhruv Mankame, Hazel Zechar
Fossils 1st place (Clague A): Andre Yang, Edwin Liang
Helicopter 1st place (Clague A): Aarav Tirumali, Edwin Liang
Metric Mastery 1st place (Clague A): Benjamin Wang, Kate Wang
Optics 1st place (Clague A): Akshanth Jayakumar, Vyom Deotare
Write It Do It 1st place (Clague A): Aarav Tirumali, Saanvi Kulkarni
Crime Busters2nd place (Clague A): Edwin Liang, Ethan Zhu
Ecology 2nd place (Clague A): Christina Zhang, Claire Svoboda
Experimental Design 2nd place (Clague A): Benjamin Wang, Ethan Zhu, Kate Wang
Helicopter 2nd place (Clague B): Henry Peters, Shaun Zhu
Meteorology 2nd place (Clague A): Soham Kathula, Vyom Deotare
Wind Power 2nd place (Clague A): Akshanth Jayakumar, Andre Yang
Anatomy and Physiology 3rd place (Clague A): Benjamin Wang, Kate Wang
Dynamic Planet 3rd place (Clague A): Ethan Zhu, Hazel Zecher
Fossils 3rd place (Clague B): Dhananjay Prasad, Shaun Zhu
Microbe Mission 3rd place (Clague A): Anna Xu, Claire Svoboda
Mission Possible 3rd place (Clague A): Christina Zhang, Claire Svoboda
Potions and Poisons3rd place (Clague A): Benjamin Wang, Christina Zhang
Reach For The Stars 3rd place (Clague A): Aarav Tirumali, Edwin Liang
The Clague Scioly team is now preparing to compete in the state tournament on April 26th.
Huron High School results
The Huron Science Olympiad team won third place in the regional competition. While Huron didn’t qualify for the state because only the top two teams qualified for the state, Huron won the top three medals in many event categories, including a gold bid in the event Bungee Drop and Drop.
Gold Bids is recognized by the Michigan Science Olympiad for outstanding performances at Regional tournaments by competitors not on a state-qualifying team. Through the Gold Bid program individuals who are part of a primary team and receive 1st place in an event at their regional competition are invited to participate in the event at the state tournament.
Huron Scioly Team (Overall Third Place)
- Astronomy (Sounak Debnath, Jhanvi Giddu) – 2nd
- Bungee Drop (Connor Fong, Thisali Bandaranayake) – 2nd and Gold Bid
- Chem Lab (Sounak Debnath, Victor Tarca) – 2nd
- Dynamic Planet (Sounak Debnath, Connor Fong) – 2nd
- Ecology (Michelle Zhang, Matthew Zhang) – 3rd
- Electric Vehicle (Kevin Xu, Connor Fong) – 3rd
- Helicopter (Kevin Xu, Sounak Debnath) – 3rd
- Material Science (Thisali Bandaranayake, Pierce Cai) – 3rd
- Robot Tour (Michelle Zhang, Connor Fong) – 4th
- Microbe Mission (Gail Gong, Pierce Cai) – 4th
- Forensics (Kashvi Rai, Natalie Lu) – 4th
- Optics (Kashvi Rai, Matthew Zhang) – 5th
- Fossils (Jhanvi Giddu, Sounak Debnath) – 5th
- Tower (Kevin Xu) – 5th
- Entomology (Natalie Lu, Carter Song) – 5th
Huron Team Members: Kashvi Rai; Michelle Zhang; Matthew Zhang; Sounak Debnath; Victor Tarca; Thisali Bandaranayake; Kevin Xu; Gail Song; Connor Fong; Natalie Lu; Carter Song; Jhanvi Giddu; and Pierce Cai.
