The Whitefish High School Science Olympiad team placed sixth out of 31 teams at the state competition held at Montana State University in Bozeman last month.  

Students competed in challenges such as anatomy and physiology, astronomy, boomilever, bungee drop, chemistry lab, circuit lab, codebusters, disease detectives, engineering CAD, entomology, experimental design, materials science, remote sensing, rocks and minerals, and water quality. 

Competing in the debut of a trial event, code craze, the duo of Bjorn Bungener and Anderson Barrile placed first. Cohen Gates and Ben Nelson took third. The participants had to showcase strong competence in programming concepts, AI, cryptography, and Python.  

Senior Logan Covey was a champion in materials science. The category requires excelling in lab activities and questions related to material and chemical properties and behaviors.  

Astir Pulsifer and Sylvia Blair also earned a medal, placing third in botany.