HMS Science Olympiad team takes third place in state tourney

Courtesy of Hudson Middle School Science Olympiad Team
·4 min read
The Hudson Middle School Science Olympiad team finished in third place at the recent state tournament.
The Hudson Middle School Science Olympiad team finished in third place at the recent state tournament.

In early April, the top 37 middle school Science Olympiad teams from the state of Ohio gathered virtually to compete for the state championship. The Hudson Middle School team earned third place, narrowly missing out on one of the coveted top two spots and the right to go to the US National tournament. Solon Middle School won the tournament and Mason Middle School finished in second place.

The Hudson team performed extremely well, bringing home medals in 17 of the 23 events including first place in Ornithology (Gemma Ward/Millie Griffiths), second place in Crave the Wave (Jerry Du/Sherry Li), and second place in Bridges (Aanya Patel/Luke Metoki). This was an extremely successful season for the Hudson team as they finished on the leaderboard at almost every local and national tournament they competed in this season, including winning the Akron Regional tournament in March.

Formed in 2016, the Hudson Middle Science Olympiad team has had a meteoric rise to become one of the strongest programs in the state of Ohio, a hotbed for science Olympiad. Since 2004, a middle school team from the state of Ohio has finished in the top five at the US National tournament every year except one, and Solon Middle School has won the national championship eight times in the past 13 years. Last season, Hudson Middle School finished second in Ohio and 19th at the US National tournament. The team’s previous best finish at the state tournament was 22nd place.

Head coach Jordan Renna was very excited about the direction of the program, highlighting that this season Hudson had a very young team, with more than a third of the state tournament roster composed of sixth and seventh graders. According to Renna, such a young team with strong upper-class student leadership will allow the program to continue to move in a positive direction.

The program was appreciative of the community support, including assistance from over 30 parent volunteers, support from the Hudson Middle School staff and administration, and its sponsors, including the NEOHSTEM Alliance, Hudson Kiwanis Foundation, and the Burton D. Morgan Foundation.

Assistant coach Chirag Patel noted that in addition to being a very competitive program, he is very proud of the fact that Hudson’s Team is one of the largest programs in the United States, with more than 45 students on the middle school roster every season. Most schools have between 15 and 34 students, but with such a large number of interested Hudson Middle School students, he said the community has rallied behind the program to provide more opportunities than most other programs.

Medalists from the State Tournament were:

  • 1st place in Ornithology (Gemma Ward/Millie Griffiths);

  • 2nd place in Bridges (Aanya Patel/Luke Metoki);

  • 2nd place in Crave the Wave (Jerry Du/Sherry Li);

  • 3rd place in Sounds of Music (Luke Metoki/Yeonwoo Yu);

  • 3rd place in Electric Wright Stuff (Hajoo Yu/Yeonwoo Yu);

  • 3rd place in Road Scholar (Luke Metoki/Millie Griffiths);

  • 3rd place in Mission Possible (Aanya Patel/Yeonwoo Yu);

  • 4th place in Crime Busters (Jerry Du/Sherry Li);

  • 4th place in Experimental Design (Kate Justice/Madison Rosko/Millie Griffiths);

  • 4th place in Dynamic Planet (Elena Cheng/Gemma Ward);

  • 4th place in Green Generation (Elena Cheng/Elizabeth Chen);

  • 5th place in Rocks & Minerals (Evelyn Fabian/Gemma Ward);

  • 5th place: Storm the Castle (Hajoo Yu/Kate Justice);

  • 5th place in Bio Process Lab (Elizabeth Chen/Gemma Ward);

  • 6th place in Meteorology (Elena Cheng/Elizabeth Chen);

  • 6th place in Solar System (Gemma Ward/Rosa Donnelly); and

  • 6th place in Anatomy & Physiology (Emma Liu/Sherry Li).

Members of the 2022 Hudson Middle School Science Olympiad team were Anna Barger, Noah Bartlett, Daniela Belkin, Elizabeth Chen, Elena Cheng, Hannah Cho, Luke Choi, Aidan Conkling, Rosa Donnelly, Jerry Du, Tristan Dunphy, Evelyn Fabian, Millie Griffiths, Evelyn Jensen, Juliana Justice, Kate Justice, Evan Lee, Alex Li, Sherry Li, Selina Li, Emma Liu, Dylan Luczywo, Matthew Matyja, Maria Metoki, Luke Metoki, John Neil, Henry Niswander, Kellan Palmer, Evan Peterson, Maanav Patel, Aanya Patel, Luke Pawlowski, William Pendergrass, Evan Peng, Gabriel Pierre-Louis, Hudson Reaper, Madison Rosko, Julia Schneider, Isabelle Shaffer, Elena Varga, Jocelyn Vogel, Gemma Ward, Jane Winston, Drew Yamokoski, Hajoo Yu, Yeonwoo Yu, and Talia Zmeili.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: HMS Science Olympiad team takes third place in state tourney