Sycamore qualified for a spot in the upcoming 2023 Official National Science Bowl ® on Saturday (Feb.25), as two teams of students from Sycamore competed in the Indiana Regional Science Bowl Competition, a qualifier tournament for the National Science Bowl Competition. Sycamore's Team 1 earned the trip to Nationals, coming back from their lone defeat in the competition, falling to Clague Middle School (Ann Arbor, MI) in the finals of the double-elimination tournament, 82-42. Since that was Sycamore Team 1's first loss, the two teams faced off a winner-take-all second final match. In the rematch, Sycamore Team 1 defeated Clague 118-22 to take 1st place overall for the regional competition and will go on to represent both Sycamore School, the State of Indiana, and the Region in the National Science Bowl in late April and early May.
Last year, Sycamore finished 5th in the nation and was the national runner-up in 2016.
Both Sycamore teams made it through the preliminary rounds in the morning and were each seeded 1st place in their respective divisions. Sycamore's first loss of the day was in the second round of Double Elimination when Sycamore Team 1 came back after halftime and defeated Team 2, sending Team 2 to the One Loss Bracket. Team 2 won match after match until facing the same Clague team that would make it to the finals against Team 1.
Sycamore's Team 2 finished in 3rd place.
Team 1 members:
Nathan Zhang (8th), Sameer Zaidi (8th), Shayen Maun (7th), Sonali Guttikonda (8th), and Derek Ai (8th).
Team 2 members:
Justin Warren (7th), Isaac Rabuck (8th), Riva Jain(8th), Sawyer Jackson (7th), and Alex Bramhill (7th).
Sycamore is coached by longtime Sycamore science teacher David Schuth.