Press contact: Angela Try

SPRINGFIELD — Approximately 173 students from 11 area high schools competed in the regional Academic Challenge on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 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 New Berlin; Division 700 (high schools with 301-700 students) – Pleasant Plains and Auburn; and Division 1500 (high schools with 701-1,500 students) – Rochester and Glenwood. 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 $1,000 LLCC Foundation scholarships were awarded at the event. Dallas Alavazarez from Auburn High School and Hayden Masters from Pawnee 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, New Berlin, Pawnee and Virginia

Team Rankings

First – Pawnee High School
Second – New Berlin High School
Third – Virginia High School

Individual Rankings

Biology
First – Dean Martin, Mt. Pulaski  
Second – Drea Edwards, Virginia
Third – Bella Athey, Pawnee

Chemistry  
First – Cole Gourley, Virginia
Second – Eli Scoles, Pawnee
Third – Carson Contreras, Pawnee

Computer Science
First – Hayden Masters, Pawnee
Second – Patience Woodford, Mt. Pulaski; Carter Claire, New Berlin; Franklin Wade, Mt. Pulaski

Engineering Graphics
First – Carson Contreras, Pawnee
Second – Vincent Tabor, Mt. Pulaski; Kai Selinger, Mt. Pulaski

English    
First – Carter Claire, New Berlin
Second – Lindy Parlier, Virginia; Mae McTaggart, Pawnee; Heather Godsil, Greenview

Mathematics
First – Matt Kapinus, New Berlin
Second – Michael Pecoraro, New Berlin
Third –Aydin Littig, New Berlin

Physics    
First – Charity Woodford, Mt. Pulaski
Second – Audrey Cooper, Mt. Pulaski
Third – Reagan Clarke, Pawnee

Division 700 teams participating: Athens, Auburn and Pleasant Plains

Team Rankings

First – Pleasant Plains High School
Second – Auburn High School
Third – Athens High School

Individual Rankings
Biology
First – Isabella Hart, Auburn
Second – Spencer Seiler, Auburn
Third – Josh Oh, Pleasant Plains

Chemistry  
First – Ben Gross, Pleasant Plains
Second – Joel Gove, Pleasant Plains
Third – Paul Anderson, Pleasant Plains; Madison Burke, Pleasant Plains

Computer Science
First – Joseph Seelund, Auburn
Second – Chloe Clemons, Athens; James Baisden, Auburn

Engineering Graphics
First – Jacob Hermes, Pleasant Plains
Second – Carlton Rahmel, Pleasant Plains
Third – Aidan Beck, Auburn

English    
First – Lincoln Young, Pleasant Plains
Second – Tiffany Fern Thorson, Athens; Josh Oh, Pleasant Plains; Ayden Copelin, Auburn

Mathematics
First – Garrett Beebe, Pleasant Plains; Cole Payne, Pleasant Plains
Third– Ben Gross, Pleasant Plains

Physics    
First – Cole Payne, Pleasant Plains   
Second – Garrett Beebe, Pleasant Plains
Third – Jacob Hermes, Pleasant Plains

Division 1500 teams participating: Glenwood, Jacksonville and Rochester

Team Rankings

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

Individual Rankings

Biology
First – Lacy Steck, Rochester
Second – Kitt Bryant, Glenwood; Annabel Mollerud, Glenwood

Chemistry  
First – Aleena Govindaiah, Glenwood; Caleb Atkins, Jacksonville
Third – Erin Turk, Glenwood

Computer Science
First – Ohin Taylor, Glenwood
Second – Navtej Bhatti, Glenwood; Erin Too, Glenwood

Engineering Graphics
First – Andrew Dillard, Jacksonville
Second –Ohin Taylor, Glenwood; Zubair Saeed, Glenwood

English    
First – Lacy Steck, Rochester
Second – Emma Guidish, Jacksonville
Third – Hannah Rollins, Rochester

Mathematics
First – Tucker Loy, Rochester
Second – Zubair Saeed, Glenwood
Third – Maria Olson, Rochester; Avery Morrell, Rochester

Physics    
First – Aleena Govindaiah, Glenwood
Second – Maria Olson, Rochester
Third – Tanner Beal, Rochester