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“It launched!” yells junior Alex Roerty as his tennis ball leaps from his air trajectory machine. Fossil Ridge High School’s Science Olympiad team experienced a fantastic second place overall finish on Saturday after a fierce battle in contention with 30 other Colorado teams.
After experiencing an incredible season last year, taking not only first in regionals, but first in state and nationals, the team looked toward a similarly successful season this year. While the team did not take first place at regionals, the group will be studying hard to sweep up a first place win at state again this year.
The Fossil Ridge team, divided into three separate groups, competed in a number of varying science events from anatomy and physiology, to meteorology, and construction based events such as bridge building.
Of the 39 events that were held at the competition, Fossil was well represented in the award ceremony:
- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in Anatomy and Physiology
- 1st in Bungee Rock
- 1st in Chem Lab
- 2nd and 3rd in Genes
- 1st and 3rd in Dynamic Climate
- 1st and 3rd in Experimental Design
- 1st in Entomology
- 1st and 3rd in Disease Detectives
- 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in Geologic Mapping
- 2nd in Fossils
- 3rd in Mission Possible
- 2nd in Protein Modeling
- 3rd in Technology Problem Solving
- 2nd in the Scrambler
- 1st in Write Stuff
“Its a way to expand your science knowledge beyond what you learn in school,” said junior Ingrid Wu. A diverse team, the group features universal representation from freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors. Despite the high stress and pressure of the day’s events, with students zooming in and out of varying classrooms, the team fought hard and smiled lots as they supported their teammates.
As the awards finally drew to a close, and students and coaches grew anxious in their seats, the final standings were listed. Of the three groups within Fossil’s Science Olympiad team, all three are advancing to state, Fossil #3 took 8th place, Fossil #2 took fourth place, and Fossil #1 took second place.
