WYSE Academic Challenge Sectional at Knox College

More than 180 students from nineteen area high schools competed at Knox College this week in a series of exams in sectional competition sponsored by the 2011 Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) Academic Challenge.

Schools represented by teams or individuals in the competition were Alleman High School, AlWood High School, Bluffs Mid-County High School, Brown County High School, Bushnell-Prairie City, Farmington High School, Galesburg High School, Hamilton High School, Illini West High School, Lewistown High School, Macomb High School, Monmouth-Roseville High School, Rockridge High School, ROWVA High School, Sherrard High School, Spoon River Valley High School, United High School, Warsaw High School, and West Central High School.

The WYSE Academic Challenge is held in seven subject areas -- biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering graphics, English, mathematics and physics. The state finals are April 11-14 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In the sectional competition at Knox, the top two teams in each of three enrollment-based divisions advance to state finals -- Hamilton High School and Brown County High School in the 300-and-under division, Macomb High School and Alleman High School in the 700-and under division, and Galesburg High School, which was the only team competing in the 1,500-and-under division.

Individual medals were awarded to the top three places in each subject exam. The top two places move on to the state finals, either individually or as part of an advancing team.

Medal winners in the 300 division, listed by school:

AlWood High School - Matt Welch, first in mathematics.

Brown County High School - Clayton Yingling, first in physics; Morgan Reich, second in English; Jacob Wilson, third in mathematics; and Kelsey Busen, third in English.

Bushnell-Prairie City High School - Emiliano Vera, third in English and third in biology.

Hamilton High School - Jake Ayers, first in English and second in mathematics; Mac Schlicher, first in chemistry; Jenny Schuler, third in chemistry; Dane Custer, third in computer science.

Lewistown High School - Ryan Welker, first in computer science and second in physics; Tyler Tealander, second in mathematics; Kiersten Hadsall, second in English; Zack Endsley, second in computer science.

ROWVA High School - Nick Dennis, first in biology and third in chemistry; Keith King, third in engineering graphics; Alex Shaw, third in engineering graphics and third in computer science; Ellen Ullerup, third in computer science.

United High School - Nick Cavenaugh, second in mathematics; Taylor Toops, second in English; Logan Douglas, second in physics; Jonah Armstong, second in engineering graphics.

Warsaw High School - Aaron Gerhardt, first in engineering graphics; Leah Brackensick, second in chemistry.

Alleman High School - Matt Billingsley, first in mathematics and first in physics; Doug Noe, second in mathematics; Pat Ewald, second in engineering graphics; Daniel MazcLennan, third in engineering graphics.

Farmington High School - Craig Wallace, second in mathematics; Elizabeth McCormick, third in computer science.

Illini West High School - Joe Goetz, third in mathematics.

Macomb High School - Stephen Lane, first in English; Prem Thottumkara, first in chemistry; Ana Petrocovic, first in biology; Ming Wang, second in chemistry; Xavier Zahnle, second in physics; Jon Naskrent, second in computer science; Tristan Willey, second in biology and third in physics; Tha Saw, third in physics; Paul Ginsberg, third in biology; Abby Eckman, third in mathematics; Abe Matlak, third in English.

Monmouth-Roseville High School - Patrick Fasano, first in computer science.

Rockridge High School - Kurt Mueller, first in engineering graphics.

Sherrard High School - Eric Millichamp, second in English.

West Central High School - Brian Earp, third in engineering graphics.

From Galesburg High School in the 1,500 division, medal winners are:

Kelsey McKillip, first in mathematics and first in English; Ashni Patel, first in biology and second in English; James Buebe, first in physics and second in English; Steven Quinn, first in biology and second in chemistry; Doung Chau, first in chemistry; Willis Andrew, first in mathematics; David Slaton, first in computer science and second in physics; Joe Hicks, second in mathematics and second in computer science; Nate Smith, second in chemistry and third in English; Dylan Oakley, second in computer science and third in physics; Anna Barshinger, second in biology and third in mathematics; Noel Puthenveetil, third in biology.