On Saturday, Apr. 29, Science Olympiad took first at state in a tight race against rival Adlai E. Stevenson High School.

At 92 and 104 points, respectively, the teams were only 12 points apart, with 3rd place Neuqua Valley coming in at 252 points.

The team expected the results to be close, as they’d come in 2nd to Stevenson for the past two years after last winning state in 2014.

They had seen some promising signs earlier in the season, beating their rival more than in past years. However, they still didn’t have the title locked down.

“A lot of people were predicting that it was going to happen, but I wasn’t really sure,” said co-head Jason Yang. “I knew that the whole team really had to perform well in order for it to happen.”

The Science Olympiad administrators announced and distributed individual awards first, leaving teams to predict the final results based on those. “I knew it was possible we could win, but Stevenson was medaling in more events than us,” said Yang. “I was really in shock when I heard them announce Stevenson as 2nd. Everyone audibly gasped.”

The rest of the team was in equal disbelief. “I was kind of in a daze,” said junior Tommy Okun.

Junior Jojo Farina agreed, “It was kind of surprising because we were really close with Stevenson, and it was really tight.”

The victory was even more momentous considering it was the first time winning state as a team for most members.

“It was really powerful to see the whole team up there and to know that we’d done it. It was something we said we’d do for three years, but it never happened while I was on the team,” said Yang.

Although their events turned out well, the team faced some challenges going into the competition. “One of the biggest issues is that it was right before AP tests,” said Farina. “It was really hard to balance, because Science Olympiad is something you do have to study for.”

Luckily, they had time to study over that weekend, so they managed to pull through without any major problems.

Following their win, New Trier will be heading to nationals May 20 to compete at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. They’re hoping to improve from their 14th place finish in last year’s competition.

“Realistically speaking, we hope to get top ten or even top five, but it’s not out of the question to shoot for 1st at nationals because we have such a strong team,” said Yang.

“The team that won last year, Mira Loma, had a lot of similar patterns to our team. They were very strong in all their events consistently, and I see that in this team. Their team was also very close-knit, and that’s something I see in this year’s team.”

Even after their impressive performance at state, the team knew they had preparation to do before nationals. “In two of my events we got 1st, but in one we got 7th, so I want to make sure I practice a bit more,” said Farina.

There’s also other activities at nationals that the team is looking forward to.

“There’s always the opening ceremony on Friday night, and there’s also the swap meet where you get to bring stuff from Illinois and swap it with people from other states,” said Yang.

Although NT Science Olympiad has gone to nationals every year since 2002, they’re excited to go into the competition with the confidence of winning state.

“It was a great way to end senior year, especially being one of the leaders of the team now,” said Yang. “We also have a hashtag going–…..#NTSO2017firstatnats.” Updates of the team’s final competition will be posted on their Instagram,…@new_trier_scioly.