Press contact: Angela Try

SPRINGFIELD — Approximately 198 students from 12 area high schools competed in the regional Academic Challenge on Monday, Feb. 5, at Lincoln Land Community College.
            
Students competed as individuals and as teams (of up to 14 students) testing in their choice of two subjects — biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering graphics, English, mathematics and physics. The tests are written by teams of college and university faculty and designed to present a challenge to high school students.
            
Teams that place either first or second within their respective divisions at the regional level are eligible to advance to the sectional competition to be held in March. Third place teams also advance if there are eight or more teams competing in a regional division. 

Those teams advancing to sectional competition include: Division 300 (high schools with 300 students or less) – Pawnee and Nokomis; Division 700 (high schools with 301-700 students) – Pleasant Plains and Athens; and Division 1500 (high schools with 701-1,500 students) – Glenwood and Rochester. Individuals that placed first or second in any division, but whose team did not advance, are eligible to participate in the sectional competition (see individual rankings below). Teams and individuals that score high enough at the sectional competition will advance to the state finals, which will be held April 8-11 at Eastern Illinois University.  

Two $250 LLCC Foundation scholarships were awarded at the event. Hugh Beeler from Pleasant Plains High School and Vince Weller from Rochester High School were selected at random from all participants in the Academic Challenge as the recipients.

The regional level competition at LLCC was sponsored by LLCC and Eastern Illinois University.

Division 300

Teams participating: Greenview, Mt. Pulaski, Nokomis, Pawnee and Virginia

Team Rankings

First – Pawnee High School
Second – Nokomis High School
Third – Mt. Pulaski High School

Individual Rankings

Biology

First – Cole Gourley, Virginia
Second – Gracie DeWerff, Nokomis
Third – Abby O’Malley, Nokomis

Chemistry

First – Drew Hisel, Pawnee
Second – Bryce Gillock, Nokomis
Third – Zyler Pavolko, Nokomis

Computer Science

First – Hayden Masters, Pawnee
Second – Lily Woodworth, Mt. Pulaski
Third – Austin Hausman, Nokomis

Engineering Graphics

First – Cole Gourley, Virginia; Carson Contreras, Pawnee; Tanner Bishop, Mt. Pulaski
Second – Patience Woodford, Mt. Pulaski; Hayden Masters, Pawnee
Third – Lily Woodworth, Mt. Pulaski

English

First – Colt Selinger, Mt. Pulaski
Second – Mia Brunk-Minor, Virginia
Third – Abby O’Malley, Nokomis

Mathematics

First – Colt Selinger, Mt. Pulaski
Second – Drew Hisel, Pawnee; Carson Contreras, Pawnee
Third –Jesse Osterhous, Nokomis

Physics    

First – Amber Bradbury, Pawnee
Second – Jesse Osterhous, Nokomis
Third – Emarie Willis, Mt. Pulaski

Division 700

Teams participating: Athens, Auburn, North Mac and Pleasant Plains

Team Rankings

First – Pleasant Plains High School
Second – Athens High School
Third – North Mac High School

Individual Rankings

Biology

First – Aliya Rowe, Auburn Second – Cora Lowry, Auburn; Dominic Van Scyoc, Athens
Third – Jasmine Brown, Auburn

Chemistry  

First – Garrett Beebe, Pleasant Plains
Second – Hugh Beeler, Pleasant Plains
Third – Cole Payne, Pleasant Plains

Computer Science

First – Zach Flynn, North Mac; Garrett Beebe, Pleasant Plains
Second – Colton Copelin, North Mac
Third – Riley Schou, Athens; Natalie Norris, Auburn; Allison Aper, Athens

Engineering Graphics

First – Landon Blakeman, Pleasant Plains
Second – Jacob Hermes, Pleasant Plains
Third – Kaelyn Mitchell, Auburn

English

First – Cora Lowry, Auburn
Second – Colton Boon, Pleasant Plains
Third – Rylee Chelbian, Auburn

Mathematics

First – Cayden Donnelly, Pleasant Plains Second – Ainsley Bermel, Athens
Third – Hailey Haschemeyer, Athens

Physics

First – Hugh Beeler, Pleasant Plains 
Second – Landon Blakeman, Pleasant Plains; Cayden Donnelly, Pleasant Plains
Third – Cole Payne, Pleasant Plains

Division 1500

Teams participating: Glenwood, Jacksonville and Rochester

Team Rankings

First – Glenwood High School
Second – Rochester High School
Third – Jacksonville High School

Individual Rankings

Biology

First – Will Kerwin, Rochester; Madeline Wallman, Glenwood
Second – Kitt Bryant, Glenwood
Third – Aleena Govindaiah, Glenwood

Chemistry

First – Madeline Wallman, Glenwood; Sieun Lee, Glenwood
Second – Finn Meek, Jacksonville
Third – Lana Annaba, Glenwood

Computer Science

First – Collin Steele, Rochester
Second – Ohin Taylor, Glenwood
Third – Erin Too, Glenwood

Engineering Graphics

First – Truman Schudel, Rochester
Second – Andrew Dillard, Jacksonville; Ohin Taylor, Glenwood
Third – Owen Daniels, Jacksonville

English

First – Maya Tolentino, Glenwood
Second – Mairead Zuver, Rochester
Third – Will Maender, Glenwood; Suna Tabag, Rochester

Mathematics

First – Lemuel Chan, Rochester
Second – Collin Steele, Rochester
Third – Maria Olson, Rochester; Will Maender, Glenwood

Physics

First – Lemuel Chan, Rochester
Second – Tucker Loy, Rochester
Third – Will Kerwin, Rochester