Some of the brightest young minds in the Fox Valley area came to Waubonsee Community College Feb. 4 to compete in the annual Illinois Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering Academic Competition.

More than 185 students from 13 public and private high schools vied for top honors in seven subject areas.

Top finishers in each division will move on to sectionals, to be hosted by Northern Illinois University in DeKalb on March 6. The NIU Sectional also will include top finishers from similar regional competitions hosted by Elgin Community College, Highland Community College, Kishwaukee College and Rock Valley College.

The WYSE Academic Competition is organized by the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.

Students from Hinckley-Big Rock High School took the top spot in Division 300, edging Aurora Christian and Leland high schools.

In Division 700, Marmion Academy finished first, followed by Aurora Central and Rosary high schools.

Kaneland High School topped Sandwich in the 1500 Division.

And Geneva High School claimed the top spot in the Unlimited Division, followed by Oswego, Yorkville, Aurora West and Batavia high schools.

In the subject area of biology, by division, top individual finishers included: Ethan Plote, of Leland High School; Caitlin Flanigan, of Hinckley-Big Rock; Patrick LeFevre, of Aurora Central; AJ Rechenmacher, of Marmion; Muhammad Rehman and Mary Piazza, both of Kaneland; and Madelyn L. Juby, Heather N. DeLucia, and Kevin M. Schneider, all of Geneva High School.

In chemistry, individuals advancing to sectionals included: Erik Dunteman, of Hinckley-Big Rock; Nick van Gilse, of Aurora Christian; Rebecca Fritz and Catherine Hayes, both of Rosary; Mary Piazza and Jason Carlquist, both of Kaneland; and Rian C. Kormos and Ryan W. Schneider, both of Geneva.

In computer science, top finishers were: Brandon Goltermann, of Hinckley-Big Rock; Stephen Riskedal, of Leland; Michael Desch and Zach Bosh, both of Marmion; Jason LaBolle, of Sandwich; Axel Larsen, of Kaneland; and Jessica Conner-Strunk and Christ Settles, both of Aurora West; and Jacob Hester and AJ Walter, both of Yorkville.

In the engineering graphics category, advancing were: Brandon Goltermann and Luke Bish, of Hinckley-Big Rock; Cesar Saltijeral-Powell,of Aurora Central; Michael Desch, of Marmion; Kerri Smith, of Sandwich; and Luke Hoffert and Mike Beer, both of Yorkville; Joey Gross, of Batavia High School; and Vito Pratomo, of Aurora West.

In English, top finishers included: Caitlin Flanigan, Jacqueline Madden, and Emily Clark, all of Hinckley-Big Rock; Cory Andersen and Seth Liptak, both of Aurora Christian; Alyssa Mertka and Isabelle Ylo, both of Rosary; Mara Hernandez, of Kaneland; Kelly Pfaff, of Sandwich; Alana C. Goodrich, of Geneva; and Hallie Gautch, of Batavia.

In the math subject area, advancing to sectionals were: Erik Dunteman, of Hinckley-Big Rock; Patrick Cole of Aurora Christian; Anthony Pullano, of Marmion; Michael Foley, of Aurora Central; Ethan Witt, of Kaneland; Jackie Johnson, of Sandwich; Anand A. Patel, of Geneva; Emily Krasinski, of Aurora West; and Iva Veseli, of Oswego.

And, in physics, winning their divisions were: Patrick Cole, of Aurora Christian; Brandon Jakubiec, of Hinckley-Big Rock; Michael Foley, of Aurora Central; Anna Ward and Isabelle Ylo, both of Rosary; Ethan Witt and Ryan Koeppen, both of Kaneland; Madelyn L. Juby, of Geneva; and AJ Szopa, of Yorkville.

More information about WYSE can be found at its homepage through UIUC.