USC Odyssey of the Mind

Four USC Odyssey of the Mind teams competed at the PA State competition at the Pocono School District on Saturday April 14, 2012.

Our HS Balsa team placed 3rd holding a scored weight of 950 pounds! Congratulations to Kyle Austin, Hunter Carson, Sydney Turnwald, Noor Kahn, Rebecca Knapp, Josh Simmons, and their coaches Michelle Turnwald and Reid Simmons.

Our HS Classics team placed 1st overall scoring 1st in each category: Long Term, Spontaneous, and Style.  This team will be representing Pennsylvania at the World Finals in Ames, Iowa in May. Congratulations and good luck to Paul Austin, Sam Park, Mohini Walawalker, Poorwa Godbole, Anna Rosati, Dave Ambroso, Alexa Schlein and their coach Susan Rosati.

Congratulations to our Middle School team who placed 3rd in division 2 for the Humor/Performance problem.  They missed 2nd , and a chance to compete at the World Finals, by only a slim margin.  Congratulations to Oceanne Fry, Neale Misquitta, Emily Walsh, Sheb Rosati, Spencer Miller, Laura Lapham, Jag Gummadi and their coaches Susan Rosati and Caroline Fry.

Congratulations to our Streams Team who competed for the first time at States.  They competed in Problem 5 – Odyssey Angels.  Their highlight score was an impressive 7th place in their Long Term solution.  Congratulations on a great effort to teammates: Vivek Babu, Christina Conte,  Jacob Conte, Anais Fry,  Jacqueline Kobeski, Gracie Lowden, Isabella Putorti and their coaches Charles Fry & Beatrice Conte.

We will have more detailed results soon, but here are the standings after Saturday’s State Final Competition:

• HS Classics team won first place and is moving on to the World Finals – Coach Rosati
• HS Balsa team took 3rd place – Coaches Turnwald and Simmons
• MS team took 3rd place  – Coaches Rosati and Fry
• Streams team took 11th place – Coaches Fry and Conte

Click here to download the Regional Winners flyer 2012

Our USC teams filled six tables in the Linton Middle School cafeteria on Saturday, February 18th. After finishing four Spontaneous problems, the scores were revealed and three of our teams won trophies for their performances!

Division I – 3rd PLACE – USC Cheeseballs coached by Alison Hess, Michelle Turnwald and George Kretschmar

Division II – 2nd PLACE – USC Unicorns coached by Debbie Carse

Division II – 3rd PLACE – USC Rust Buckets coached by Susan Rosati and Caroline Fry with Fun Day Coach Charles Fry

Thank you to all of the judges and volunteers who made this day possible for our teams. And thanks to the OMers who were well behaved and a pleasure to be around on this long day of creativity.

There was another special award given to one of our teams by Meg Rauth, Spontaneous Coordinator for Fun Day and Regionals. The teams are encouraged to create their own Spontaneous problems as they sit together on Fun Day. This year, three of the four problems were created by teams at last year’s event. One of those teams was our own USC Rust Buckets. Their problem was called “Pretzels or Not?” and they were awarded a tub of pretzels as they were honored for their creativity. Congrats!

10 days ’til Regionals…