Press contact: Kyla Kruse
SPRINGFIELD — Approximately 185 students from 13 area high schools competed in the regional Academic Challenge Wednesday, Feb. 8, 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) – Mt. Pulaski and Pawnee; Division 700 (high schools with 301-700 students) – Pleasant Plains and Auburn; and Division 1500 (high schools with 701-1,500 students) – Glenwood and Jacksonville. 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 14-17 at Eastern Illinois University.
Two $250 LLCC Foundation scholarships were awarded at the event. Robin Pitts from Lanphier High School and Zorah Austin from North Mac 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
Individual Rankings
Biology
First – Abygail O’Malley, Nokomis
Second – Thomas Lieber, Nokomis
Third – Cecilia Davis, Mt. Pulaski
Chemistry
First – Alexis Wade, Mt. Pulaski
Second – Amber Bradbury, Pawnee and Makenna Wilham, Mt. Pulaski
Third – Emarie Willis, Mt. Pulaski and Nolan Himes, Nokomis
Computer Science
First – Hayden Masters, Pawnee
Second – David Ruhl, Mt. Pulaski
Third – Jacob Gordon, Pawnee
Engineering Graphics
First – David Ruhl, Mt. Pulaski
Second – Lily Woodworth, Mt. Pulaski
Third – Tanner Bishop, Mt. Pulaski
English
First – Colt Selinger, Mt. Pulaski
Second – Gavin Smith, Mt. Pulaski
Third – Mia Minor, Virginia and Heather Godsil, Greenview
Mathematics
First – Maddux Himes, Nokomis
Second – Reece Lohman, Nokomis
Third – Hayden Masters, Pawnee; Megan Reynolds, Virginia; Alexander Wilcoxon, Greenview; and Colt Selinger, Mt. Pulaski
Physics
First – Makenna Wilham, Mt. Pulaski
Second – Justin Skinner, Pawnee and Lilly Carson, Virginia
Third – Alexander Wilcoxon, Greenview
Division 700
Teams participating: Athens, Auburn, North Mac and Pleasant Plains
Individual Rankings
Biology
First – Aliya Rowe, Auburn and Faith Thompson, Pleasant Plains
Second – Isabella Hart, Auburn
Third – Zachary Flynn, North Mac
Chemistry
First – Hugh Beeler, Pleasant Plains
Second – Landon Blakeman, Pleasant Plains
Third – Marek Boltz and Sydney McAfee, Pleasant Plains
Computer Science
First – Cole Payne, Pleasant Plains
Second – Michael Howard, Athens
Third – Eli Shiffer and Jack Harris, Athens
Engineering Graphics
First – Landon Blakeman, Pleasant Plains
Second – Paige Flatley, Athens
Third – Alaina Taylor, Athens and Brendan Fatheree, North Mac
English
First – Benjamin Warwick, Auburn
Second – Hugh Beeler, Pleasant Plains
Third – Jackson Fatheree and Brendan Fatheree, North Mac
Mathematics
First – Cayden Donelly, Pleasant Plains
Second – Nathan Barth, Auburn
Third – Eli Shiffer, Athens; Alexander Weller, North Mac; Rillyn Hill, Pleasant Plains; and Jeffrey Grimm, Auburn
Physics
First – Cayden Donelly, Pleasant Plains and Jeffrey Grimm, Auburn
Second – Orion Summers, Athens and Megan Nation, Pleasant Plains
Third – Jackson Fatheree, North Mac
Division 1500
Teams participating: Glenwood, Jacksonville, Lanphier and Rochester
Individual Rankings
Biology
First – Aleena Govindaiah, Glenwood
Second – Maya Tolentino, Glenwood
Third – Sieun Lee, Glenwood
Chemistry
First – Alexa Wienhoff, Glenwood
Second – Finn Meek, Jacksonville and Sieun Lee, Glenwood
Third – Jodi Jin, Glenwood
Computer Science
First – Grace Kang, Glenwood
Second – Navtej Bhatti, Glenwood
Third – Norah Wilson, Jacksonville
Engineering Graphics
First – Truman Schudel, Rochester
Second – AJ Potter, Jacksonville
Third – Hannah Havrilka, Glenwood
English
First – Brooke Brannan, Jacksonville
Second – Suna Tabag, Rochester and Hannah Havrilka, Glenwood
Third – Maya Tolentino, Glenwood
Mathematics
First – Lemuel Chan, Rochester
Second – Grace Kang, Glenwood
Third – Nathan Williams, Rochester
Physics
First – Alexa Wienhoff, Glenwood
Second – Scott Goebel, Rochester and Lucas Colonius, Glenwood
Third – Lemuel Chan, Rochester