The Science Olympiad team at J.C. Booth beat their fourth place finish from last year, making them one of the top three ranked teams in the nation.

Booth came in third out of 60 teams competing at the 2011 Science Olympiad National Tournament held May 20-21 at the University of Wisconsin. There were 46 competition categories spanning the sciences from chemistry, biology, and physics to engineering, robotics and astronomy.

This year marked Booth’s 18th trip to the national competition. In order to get an invitation, a team must place first or second at the state competition. The Booth team won the state championship this year as it has done every year since 1999.

Tammy Pakulski is the team’s coach.