On Saturday, Aviation High School Science Decathlon teams swept the field at the Bothell Invitational! Competing in teams of up to six people in ten science and engineering events, our three teams took the top three places.

Team AW, consisting of Kevin Gustafson, Thomas Malchodi, Ryan Sanders, Patrick Santiago, took third place overall and earned individual medals in Scientific Method, Beakers (ornithology), robot, and water rockets.

The Squirtle Squad (Rebecca Ly, Anthony Nguyen, Franco Spadoni, Miranda Sita, Ted Tagami) took second place overall and earned individual medals in Thirteen Test Tubes, Four 'n Six (forensics), and water rockets.

The indomitable Golden Pegacorns (Drew Collins, Shelby Cramer, Ao Ding, Dawn Keehnel, Stanley Ong, Nicole Wright) placed first and earned individual medals in Marine Biology, Thirteen Test Tubes, Beakers, Geo-Trekking, forensics, Tower Building, robotics, and water rockets.

In addition to their outstanding performance, our decathletes also displayed superb sportsmanship to fellow competitors, coaches and event organizers. Their achievements and capable ambassadorship inspire Phoenix Pride.

We gratefully acknowledge the help of Mr. Sanders, Mr. Sita, and Mr. Gustafson for their help making the trip possible.

Submitted by Scott McComb