Solon hosted its annual Science Olympiad tournament this past weekend on Feb. 4. Featuring 58 teams from all over Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Illinois and Pennsylvania, the Comets managed to earn the best score of all the teams in attendance, even without their captains competing.

When it comes to Solon’s Science Olympiad team, one word comes to mind: consistency. In the past nine years, the team has won Nationals a whopping seven times.  This year’s team looks to continue Solon’s excellent tradition of winning.

However, the group had to overcome a rough patch only two years ago in which the team ended with a fourth place finish that did not allow them to move on to Nationals. Nicole Geiger, head coach of the team, described it as being a reality check for those taking Solon’s talent for granted.

“I believe that was a wake up call for our underclassmen that we don’t win just for being Solon, but with extremely hard work,” Geiger said.

Seldom does Solon have any sort of weakness in any of their events, but Geiger said the team has demonstrated strong performances thus far as well as how impressive the students continue to be on a personal level.

“We have gotten off to a very competitive start, topping most Ohio teams we encounter at tournaments,” Geiger said. “We have had success in our mechanical/engineering events thus far, and continue to make progress in our ‘study’ events from Anatomy all the way to Write-it, Do it (An events in which one member writes a description of an object and their partner then must construct the object from the description in a separate room). Each year, this team astounds me with what they are capable of.  Their maturity, drive and focus is so unlike what I remember high schoolers being like when I was in high school.”

Last year, Science Olympiad was led by its group of seniors that had been with the team since middle school. Co-captain and senior Jonathan Wang has been entrusted with the duty of making up for such a loss and using his experience to guide a team that had relied very heavily on its veteran leadership last season.

“We lost a lot of great seniors from last year who were really dedicated, but a lot of our returning members are really stepping up and our new members are also adapting really well to this higher level of competition,” Wang said. “Of course my experience helps me in my own events, but for the team as a whole, it’s helped me get a good idea of where our strengths and weaknesses tend to lie.”

The team will travel to Ohio State University to defend their state title on April 1. According to Wang, the team needs to worry about the present and look to refine their game before the state competition arrives. After all, Solon inarguably has the largest target on its back this year and must prove once again why it’s deserving of such a reputation.

“It’s really important for us to recognize areas where we need to improve,” Wang said. “Sometimes we can ask people to join weaker events or push people to compete more in certain events to get more experience. There’s always so much to learn, and that’s what people love about Science Olympiad.”