The middle school’s EXCEL Science Olympiad team participated in the regional competition on Feb. 29 in Dix Hills, competing against 37 teams from across Long Island. Islip won 12 medals and came in fifth place overall, qualifying as one of the six teams advancing to the state-level Science Olympiad competition, to be held April 17-18 in Syracuse. The team earned medals in the following 11 events:

Anatomy: sixth place (Ryder Hansen, Jaci Narducci)
Boomilever: ninth place (Carly Herrington, Ronan Montana)
Circuit Lab: fifth place (Lauren Limmer, Kathryn Quinn)
Crime Busters: ninth place (John Oggeri, Kathryn Quinn)
Dynamic Planet: sixth place (Parker Barry, John Oggeri)
Food Science: sixth place (Carly Herrington, Lauren Limmer)
Fossils: fifth place (Ryder Hansen, Jaci Narducci)
Game On: eighth place (Eagan Biscari, Ryder Hansen)
Meteorology: 10th place (Abby Alfano, John Oggeri)
Mission Possible: ninth place (Jake Mullholland, John Oggeri)
Mousetrap Vehicle: fifth place (Jean Johnson, Ronan Montana)
Ornithology: fifth place (Parker Barry, Jaci Narducci)

“Islip is always one of the smaller schools at this rigorous competition, with many schools competing with multiple teams and many coaches,” said EXCEL coordinator Julia Johnson. “We also competed with three out of our 15 team members coming in as last-minute replacements, since we had a lot of turnover this year. Competing under these challenging circumstances made the results even sweeter for our hardworking students.”