Florida 2019

[jaggie34]

Boca Raton has been amazing ever since 2011. But at 2018 states, they got second... They lost to Archimedean Upper Conservatory, which was surprising to everybody obviously. But Boca Raton isn't really considered a competitive school anymore to most people down here in Florida. They still did good at nationals though.

On the other hand in Division B, it has definitely been getting more competitive. River City came in out of nowhere last year at states and won and now Galaxy beating River City in the OSS Invite. OSS has really stepped up their game and has been pretty strong at every invitational so far. Archimedean is going to participate in their first invitational (of this year) on December 15th. Right now in Florida, I believe the top tier Div B teams are, 1. OSS, 2. Galaxy, #3. River City, and #4 . Archimedean.

Galaxy is definitely a top tier school when it comes to building events. I'd say the best in Florida, but when it comes to academics I believe that's where they fall short. It's going to be much of a rivalry between the bottom 3 schools, but I can almost guarantee if OSS keeps up their work. They will do amazing at every competition that comes to them.


PS. I have never seen this much activity on the Florida forums before

You are right, Boca did lose to Archimedean, but that was only after a nearly decade-long winning streak at the state tournament. Falling down 1 place at 1 tournament after nearly 10 years does not suddenly make Boca a "un-competitive" school anymore. They had a bad year - this happens to the best teams everywhere. You are completely contradicting yourself in saying that Boca "did well at nationals", but "arent competitive" anymore. Sure they lost to Archimedean by 20-30 points at States, but look at how much they were ahead at Nationals. States provides a very poor indicator of a team's ability and competitiveness compared to Nationals.
You are making claims here that you have no business making - it is hard to understand how hard it is to place at nationals until you have, let alone perform well as a team. Getting top 6 at nationals in any event is an extraordinarily difficult accomplishment that very few people accomplish. Your team has won States ONCE, but that does NOT mean you understand how to be a competitive team at the national level, nor does it afford you the credibility to make these claims. States doesnt really hold significant weight to the top teams around the nation, MIT and Nationals results are the only ones that many people take seriously, and for good reason. I would encourage you to reconsider your rash statements and perhaps reflect on what conclusions you can really make based on your experiences

I was on Boca High’s Team 1 that lost to Archimedean at States (and Regionals) last year, so I can add some perspective to this comment. I understand what you’re saying, but I think a fairer statement might be that, as a whole, Florida Science Olympiad is more competitive.

I don’t think our performance at States last year is indicative of how the team will perform this year. There were several difficult decisions our team had to make towards the 2nd half of the year (due to 2 members quitting after MIT), and we all worked our hardest to try and keep our state-champion streak alive, but Archimedean was simply the better team by competition day.

However, I still believe Boca High will still be competitive this year, mainly because it still has an amazing head coach and an incredibly talented, committed group of students that will work hard throughout the season. With all that being said, I agree that we should wait till MIT to see how Boca performs against other Florida teams.

P.S. Congratulations on winning States last year! As someone who was on the first Boca team to not win states in 10 years, I can tell you that States still meant a lot to us, and we valued our performance and results there just as seriously as we did MIT and Nationals. Winning states is a great accomplishment that I know everyone on our team last year respected and took seriously throughout the season, even though we ultimately fell short of our goal. We genuinely cared about our 2nd place performance at states, as it was vital in showing us where we could improve before Nationals.

As a current member of Boca Raton, I can assure everyone that we still plan on being competitive this year, and although I can only speak for my own opinions, I believe we are poised for a bounce-back year. We have, however, certainly noticed Florida becoming more competitive this year, especially with OSS's high placement at UGA. As was mentioned earlier, we will be going to our first invitational next week and will be at MIT in January.

[jaah5211]

You are right, Boca did lose to Archimedean, but that was only after a nearly decade-long winning streak at the state tournament. Falling down 1 place at 1 tournament after nearly 10 years does not suddenly make Boca a "un-competitive" school anymore. They had a bad year - this happens to the best teams everywhere. You are completely contradicting yourself in saying that Boca "did well at nationals", but "arent competitive" anymore. Sure they lost to Archimedean by 20-30 points at States, but look at how much they were ahead at Nationals. States provides a very poor indicator of a team's ability and competitiveness compared to Nationals.
You are making claims here that you have no business making - it is hard to understand how hard it is to place at nationals until you have, let alone perform well as a team. Getting top 6 at nationals in any event is an extraordinarily difficult accomplishment that very few people accomplish. Your team has won States ONCE, but that does NOT mean you understand how to be a competitive team at the national level, nor does it afford you the credibility to make these claims. States doesnt really hold significant weight to the top teams around the nation, MIT and Nationals results are the only ones that many people take seriously, and for good reason. I would encourage you to reconsider your rash statements and perhaps reflect on what conclusions you can really make based on your experiences

I was on Boca High’s Team 1 that lost to Archimedean at States (and Regionals) last year, so I can add some perspective to this comment. I understand what you’re saying, but I think a fairer statement might be that, as a whole, Florida Science Olympiad is more competitive.

I don’t think our performance at States last year is indicative of how the team will perform this year. There were several difficult decisions our team had to make towards the 2nd half of the year (due to 2 members quitting after MIT), and we all worked our hardest to try and keep our state-champion streak alive, but Archimedean was simply the better team by competition day.

However, I still believe Boca High will still be competitive this year, mainly because it still has an amazing head coach and an incredibly talented, committed group of students that will work hard throughout the season. With all that being said, I agree that we should wait till MIT to see how Boca performs against other Florida teams.

P.S. Congratulations on winning States last year! As someone who was on the first Boca team to not win states in 10 years, I can tell you that States still meant a lot to us, and we valued our performance and results there just as seriously as we did MIT and Nationals. Winning states is a great accomplishment that I know everyone on our team last year respected and took seriously throughout the season, even though we ultimately fell short of our goal. We genuinely cared about our 2nd place performance at states, as it was vital in showing us where we could improve before Nationals.

As a current member of Boca Raton, I can assure everyone that we still plan on being competitive this year, and although I can only speak for my own opinions, I believe we are poised for a bounce-back year. We have, however, certainly noticed Florida becoming more competitive this year, especially with OSS's high placement at UGA. As was mentioned earlier, we will be going to our first invitational next week and will be at MIT in January.

I believe that you guys are going to Northview right?
Wish you the best of luck!

[jaggie34]

I believe that you guys are going to Northview right?
Wish you the best of luck!

Yes, thank you!

[demir]

Here are the OSS Division C Invitational results from today:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ez5ZbK ... sp=sharing

Great job everyone, and I must say the whole performance and attitude of Cardinal Gibbons was daunting. They did a phenomenal job and showed great (and loud) team spirit. I admit I thought state would be a three team race with us out looking in. Field seems to be more crowded.

[pgonscioly]

Not very sure about Galaxy, at the OSS invitational. They beat River City, which was very surprising for all of us, but we have been having more frequent studies and test taking. Although, Galaxy don't participate in many out of state invitationals. Neither do Archimedean, I feel like this year Archimedean will not do as well considering they lost their best 9th graders. On the other hand, OSS is participating in many invitationals. Solon, Dodgen, 2 ones held at OSS, and probably other ones I do not know of. This will give new members more of an experience and I think you guys will pull out for the clutch 1st place at states. Although, we don't know what's going to happen, anything could happen.

Archimedean B team is only grade 6 to 8.Grade 9 is in C

[BocaBuilder18]

Congratulations to Boca High's Team 1 on an amazing performance at the Northview invitational! They performed extremely well against some great Midwestern teams, and got 2nd place overall, a 7-place improvement over last year's results. Check out the results below:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1D3Sp0 ... e3zEVoNYqF

[jaah5211]

Congratulations to Boca High's Team 1 on an amazing performance at the Northview invitational! They performed extremely well against some great Midwestern teams, and got 2nd place overall, a 7-place improvement over last year's results. Check out the results below:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1D3Sp0 ... e3zEVoNYqF

Congratulations!
Definitely an amazing performance especially against schools from Ohio!

[demir]

Congratulations to Boca High's Team 1 on an amazing performance at the Northview invitational! They performed extremely well against some great Midwestern teams, and got 2nd place overall, a 7-place improvement over last year's results. Check out the results below:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1D3Sp0 ... e3zEVoNYqF

Wow! This IS impressive. Great Job Boca!!!

[Killboe]

Good luck to everybody at the OSS Invite tomorrow!

[Killboe]

OSS Invite Results (dont have score sheet right now but have Top 4)

1. OSS Team A (64)
2. OSS Team B (idk)
3. River City A (128)
4. ALC (idk)


Good job to everybody at the invitational! OSS is looking very, very strong this year.



Not gonna lie that Solar System test at the invite was REALLY messed up. It had almost nothing that were in the rules, all from previous years...