2026 Recap

2026 Recap 

High winds ravaged Northwest Ohio for much of Mid-March including March 13^th and March 15^th resulting in fallen trees and general havoc across the area. Fortunately, for the BGSU Science Olympiad sponsored by Vistra Energy, the competition was held in between those two days on pi-day March 14^th and avoided any potential issues for competitors transporting their equipment and themselves to the exciting events of the day.

Twenty-eight teams arrived on a cool and calm Saturday morning ready for some intense action with many competitors sharply dressed in team uniforms and t-shirts. After teams settled into their homerooms and had devices checked in at impound, events started all over campus with helicopters flying, hovercrafts hovering, wheeled vehicles rolling, bungee cords dropping, samples tested, codes busted, robots programmed, experiments designed, and hundreds of test problems solved throughout the day.

At the end of the grueling day of competition, hundreds of competitors gathered for the awards ceremony still full of energy and anticipation of the announcement of the winners. For the second straight year, the ceremony was hosted by the always immensely entertaining Marc Hathaway, host of BGSU Brain Game, forever the greatest Quiz Bowl show on television.

Video of the awards ceremony

The BGSU A capella group Acouschicks started things off with their inspiring student-arranged renditions of songs from Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Fleetwood Mac and others. Following a bit of trivia and the annual slideshow of the day’s highlights, everyone was ready for the main event: the unrivaled excitement and joy of revealing the award winners.

For the 11^th year in a row, it was McCord Junior High and Northview High School taking the first-place trophies in divisions B and C, respectively, both obtaining BGSU Regional record scores of 39 points. McCord equaled their total from 2024, while Northview improved from on their previous record of 47 achieved in both 2022 and 2024. McCord also tied their record of 16 gold medals, while Northview set a new C division record of 12 golds. Both teams medaled in all 23 of their events.

Participation was a bit down for 2026 in the B division, but there was no shortage of enthusiasm and outstanding performances. The two Timberstone Junior High teams, Blue and Silver, finished second and third, with scores of 61and 100, respectively, with the Blue team winning gold in three events. Oak Harbor Junior High followed closely behind with a score of 109, while winning one gold medal and qualifying for their 2nd trip to states. Springfield Middle School claimed the final state bid with a score of 123, winning gold in two events. Van Buren Middle School, St. Rose Catholic School, Ottawa Hills Junior High and St. Joseph’s Maumee also had strong performances and medaled in several events.

In the C division, the two Northview teams took the top two spots as they have done multiple times in previous years. Northview Black took 2^nd overall with 100 points with Sylvania Southview Orange close behind in 3^rd at 115. The next three teams, Oak Harbor, St. Francis and Sylvania Southview Brown finished in a tight pack for 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th place respectively, while Springfield Blue claimed the final state bid just edging out both Anthony Wayne and Ottawa Hills. Shawnee, Bowling Green, Paulding, Tinora, and Lincolnview also achieved top individual performances to earn medals.

State qualifying teams headed to Ohio State the following month to take part in one of the toughest state competitions in the country, and the Northwest Ohio teams showed they could compete with the best. For the second straight year, Northview took home a team trophy in the C division finishing in 6^th place while winning medals in nine events. In the B division, McCord came up just short of earning a trophy in 8^th place while taking gold in two events, silver in one, and achieveing 12 top-10 finishes among 40 teams. Overall, BGSU regional teams received medals in 24 events from finishing in the top six.

Thanks to generous support, especially from our Premier Sponsor Vistra Energy, all BGSU regioanal competitors and coaches received BGSU Science Olympiad t-shirts with a new design but the same slogan “Inspiring Science for the Public Good.”  No matter what the results for individual students, we at BGSU Science Olympiad hope that everyone was inspired to do learn more science, prepare for next season’s Olympiad, and do science for the public good in their future careers.