For release: April 10, 2006

Contacts: 
Kerry Gibson, Public Affairs, 515-294-1405

OTTUMWA WINS 2006 MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE BOWL

Burlington Notre Dame wins Fuel-cell Car Challenge

AMES, Iowa – Evans Middle School of Ottumwa defeated Urbandale in the championship match here Saturday to win the third annual Ames Laboratory/Iowa State University Regional Middle School Science Bowl. Notre Dame Middle School of Burlington won the Fuel-cell Car Challenge portion of the competition on Friday.

The Evans team of Andrew Kaake, Estefany Garcia, Samantha Robertson, Jake Swanson, and Jacquiline Vonderhaar won their first two matches of the double-elimination quiz-bowl event, before dropping a 94-78 match to Boone Middle School. Evans then defeated Waverly-Shell Rock and Home Schools of Cedar Rapids to earn a rematch with Boone in the semifinal match. Boone lost a 56-32 match to Urbandale in the quarterfinals.

In the rematch, Evans jumped out to a big lead and won 130-24 to advance to the championship against the Urbandale team of Zachary Houborg, Samantha Sauerbrei, and twin sisters Andrea and Kendra Olsen. Evans took another commanding lead and won 116-14, but since that was Urbandale’s first loss, the teams played a second time to determine the champion. Evans prevailed again, 156-32, to win the event and the right to represent the Ames Lab/ISU Regional at the National Science Bowl, June 21-24, in Denver, Colo.

The victory was sweet for Evans’ Kaake, who was a seventh grader on last year’s runner-up team which lost to Central Academy of Des Moines. The Evans team is coached by Susan Happel with assistance from Grant Mellor.

Sixteen schools participated in the two-day event, which also had students build and race model hydrogen fuel-cell cars. As mentioned above, Burlington Notre Dame won that event, with Cedar Rapids McKinley second, Des Moines St. Joseph’s third, and Anthon-Oto-Maple Valley fourth. Other schools competing included Le Mars, Berg (Newton), Miller (Marshalltown), New Hartford-Dike, Woodside (Des Moines/Saydel), Mediapolis, and South Hamilton (Jewell).

Ames Laboratory is operated for the Department of Energy by Iowa State University. The Lab conducts research into various areas of national concern, including energy resources, high-speed computer design, environmental cleanup and restoration, and the synthesis and study of new materials.

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