Science Olympiad started off their season by placing ninth on their first tournament in Shawnee Mission South.

The team placed first for Forensics, third for Proteins and sixth for Anatomy and Physiology.

“I’ve been doing Forensics since freshman year, so it was pretty much doing what I’ve been doing for the past year. In forensics, you can’t really go in and just do it; you have to know what you are doing. But it’s the first game for our season so I’m really glad that we won,” senior Elizabeth Pattie said.

The team only had four days of practice before their first tournament, but was able to place ninth out of the 22 schools that participated.

“We didn’t have a long time to practice. We only had four days and I think that the team did pretty good. Without the Kansas schools, we would have placed fifth,” head coach Andrea Leonard said.

The team received a gold medal for Forensics, Bronze for proteins and honorable mention for Anatomy and Physiology.

“The first tournament was a good indicator of the high competitive level this year,” senior Katy Lehenbauer said.

This year, more students joined the team.

“It’s my first year of joining and I think it’s really cool because we get to experiment and have fun with science,” sophomore Susan Caman said.

The team meets up to practice and study for their events.

“We practice every Tuesdays and Thursdays in Leonard’s room from 2:30-4 p.m. We basically study and prepare for our events. Some events take more time and more time than the other events,” senior Jasmine Frazier said.

This year, the team is determined to go to state again.

“We have been to going to state for the past years and I would really like to maintain that. We have some experienced students and we have new students so it’s going to be interesting,” Leonard said.

“How do you spell Science Olympiad? F-U-N! I think we are going to be very successful this year and beat Scholar Bowl,” assistant coach Susie Helwig said.