Illinois
| Illinois | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General Information | |
| Total teams | 313 ( 6.8% 2023 to 2024)
|
| Division B Champion | Daniel Wright Junior High School |
| Division C Champion | New Trier High School |
| State Tournament Location | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign |
| Website | www |
The state of Illinois has a history of being competitive on the national level. Illinois can claim three national titles: won twice by Daniel Wright Junior High School (2016, 2017) and once by Adlai E. Stevenson High School (2023). The state has hosted the national tournament several times, most recently in 2010.
History
The Science Olympiad started from the endeavors of Gerard Putz and Jack Cairns, who thought that science education could benefit from a multi-school science competition. It has grown to be a nationwide competition with 48 states and has also raised interest in countries such as Canada and Japan.
The annual Illinois state competition is held at the UIUC. There is a system of divisions for the state tournament - division A and AA, AA being more competitive. Teams are placed in divisions based on the competitiveness of their regional competition and also their placing at the previous year's state competition. This system of divisions theoretically allows teams who aren't as financially supported to medal and place higher than they would if placed against exceptionally competitive teams that are gunning to go to Nationals.
Past State Champions
This is a record of the past state champions and runners-up, and their respective places at the national competition, if applicable. Scores at the state competition may be shown in parentheses.
- 1 Science and Arts Academy was originally placed at 18th. However, after a scoring error in Water Quality was discovered, they were awarded 14th place. There was no tiebreaker with Shady Side Academy, and both were awarded 14th.
- 2 2022 Illinois states ran with 2 groups (A and AA). The official scores (and the points shown) have each group separate. However, if the groups are combined, Marie Murphy wins over Daniel Wright 81 to 83. This is primarily due to Daniel Wright getting 41st in WIDI in the combined groups.
Format
Illinois separates a single Varsity team per school from the remaining JV teams at regional tournaments - each group is ranked separately, and the Varsity rankings are used to determine state bids. At the state tournament, Illinois divides teams into groups AA and A, based on past tournament performance. Invitational tournaments in Illinois often adopt one of these two formats (Varsity vs. JV tracks, or expected performance tracks).
While Illinois regional and state tournaments are historically combined B/C tournaments, invitational tournaments in the state tend to be single-division. Bids for the state tournament are allocated primarily proportionally. The Illinois state tournament is among the few in the nation to regularly run several trial events each year.
Conflict blocks
Illinois releases its own conflict block schedule typically within a few weeks after the national rules are released. While the block schedule is similar to the national schedule, the state opts to using only 5 instead of 6 blocks. This is achieved by distributing the events from 1 of the 6 nationals blocks amongst the other 5 blocks. All national self-scheduled events remain as self-scheduled, but some hybrid lab events have had their build component be self-schedule while their test component be assigned to a block.
A/AA Team Seeding
At the state tournament, teams are split into two groups: A and AA. Between the two groups, AA is more competitive as it's the group where the higher-seeded teams (the #1 seed being the highest seed) are placed. Teams are then awarded medals and trophies based on performance within their group. ISO's reasoning behind having groupings is that it allows all participants to earn medals at State and recognizes the achievements of all teams at the awards ceremony. Other tournaments in Illinois, most notably the Palatine Invitational, have adopted an A/AA/AAA seeding where AAA groups the most competitive teams based on performance.
When determining which teams earn a national bid, the overall team score is used rather than the group score.
Factors into seeding
The groups are generated by first seeding each team based on a number of factors, including:
- Regional tournament ranking
- Overall ranking in the state tournament in the past 2 years
- Additional determination by the A/AA Seeding Committee if needed
The History of A/AA Seeding
Prior to 2003, there were 32 teams per division at the state tournament. However, some teams that qualified for State were not accepting their state bids because their performance at the state tournament would not be recognized. Attempts were made to encourage teams to go to state, including making the top 10 placements in each event earn medals, but this option did not fix the problem.
The first known A/AA seeding was developed between 2003 and 2005. For the first two years, the school's student population size was the only factor in determining seeding. Teams were then evenly split into two groups based on their given seed. However, this heuristic did not achieve the goals set out by ISO.
Between 2005 and 2008, the A/AA Seeding Committee was created with 5-7 people from around Illinois. The group constructed a mathematical formula for seeding teams, factors of which included regional tournament ranking, medals won at the previous state tournament, and overall ranking in the state tournament for the previous 3 years. While this heuristic proved to be significantly better than the first, the 10-15 teams that got a median seed required additional considerations.
In 2009, due to frequently changing team participants, the committee decided to reduce the number of previous years used to analyze state performance from 3 to 2.
In 2013, the A/AA Seeding Committee eliminated the use of state medals won in previous state tournaments in the seeding calculation.
In 2015, the ISO Advisory Board reviewed the A/AA Seeding process and determined that the A/AA Seeding Committee would continue to use the current process.
Competitions
| Name | Type | Date | Division | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palatine Invitational | Invitational | 2024-11-23 | C | In-person |
| Harlem Invitational | Invitational | 2024-12-07 | C | In-person |
| Neuqua Valley Invitational | Invitational | 2024-12-07 | C | In-person |
| Libertyville/Vernon Hills Invitational | Invitational | 2025-01-11 | C | In-person |
| Rockford Christian Invitational | Invitational | 2025-01-11 | B | In-person |
| University of Chicago Invitational | Invitational | 2025-01-11 | B | In-person |
| University of Chicago Invitational | Invitational | 2025-01-18 | C | In-person |
| Crystal Lake Central Invitational | Invitational | 2025-01-25 | C | In-person |
| Kild-Mas Founders Invitational | Invitational | 2025-02-01 | B | In-person |
| Loyola Invitational | Invitational | 2025-02-08 | C | In-person |
| LISI Invitational | Invitational | 2025-02-15 | C | In-person |
| Northwestern University Invitational | Invitational | 2025-02-22 | C | In-person |
| Division A Regional | Regional | 2025-02 | A | In-person |
| Western Illinois University Regional | Regional | 2025-02-15 | B/C | In-person |
| Waubonsie Valley Regional | Regional | 2025-03-01 | B/C | In-person |
| Parkland College Regional | Regional | 2025-03-01 | B/C | In-person |
| Southern Illinois Regional | Regional | 2025-03-01 | B/C | In-person |
| College of Lake County Regional | Regional | 2025-03-01 | B/C | In-person |
| Harper College Regional | Regional | 2025-03-08 | B/C | In-person |
| College of DuPage Regional | Regional | 2025-03-08 | B/C | In-person |
| Oakton Community College Regional | Regional | 2025-03-08 | B/C | In-person |
| McHenry County College Regional | Regional | 2025-03-08 | B/C | In-person |
| Rock Valley College/U-46 Regional | Regional | 2025-03-15 | B/C | In-person |
| Chicago Public Schools Regional | Regional | 2025-03-15 | B/C | In-person |
| 2025 Illinois State Tournament | State | 2025-04-12 | B/C | In-person |
| 2025 Illinois Individual State Tournament | State | 2025-04-19 | C | In-person |
State Competition
April 12, 2025: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Division B and C are both split into A and AA teams depending on size and experience. The top two scoring teams in each division, B and C, (regardless of A or AA status) qualify for the national tournament.
Trial Events
Division B
- Agricultural Science
- Bottle Rocket
- Entomology
- Pentathlon
- Solar Power
Division C
- Agricultural Science
- Bottle Rocket
- Entomology
- Geocaching
- Solar Power
Past Results
While Illinois Science Olympiad (ISO) does not have record of state results prior to 2013, a handful of state results have been reluctantly archived:
Until 2013, ISO did not release their full score sheets to the general public.
- 2013 B&C
- 2014 B&C
- 2015 C
- 2016 C
- 2017 C
- 2018 C
- 2019 B/2019 C
- 2021 B/2021 C
- 2022 B/2022 C
- 2023 B (by group)/2023 C (by group)
- 2024 B/2024 C
Individual State Tournament
For the 2024 season, ISO created a new tournament dedicated to individuals who medaled at their regional but did not earn a bid for State. The tournament is namely the Illinois Individual State Tournament. After all regionals concluded, coaches from each regional whose team did not make state but medalled at their regional will be informed which events the students are allowed to participate in. The tournament took place at McHenry County College hosted by Liebman Institute for Science Innovation (LISI) on April 20, 2024.
Teams
Division B
Western Illinois University Region
Lindenwood University-Belleville Region
IMSA Region
Chicago Public Schools Region
*These teams are defunct and did not compete in the most recent season.
Parkland Region
College of Lake County Region
College of DuPage Region
Oakton Region
Rockford Valley College Region
Division C
Western Illinois University Region
Lindenwood University-Belleville Region
IMSA Region
Chicago Public Schools Region
Parkland
College of Lake County Region
College of DuPage Region
Oakton Region
Rockford Valley Region
External Links
Tournaments of Illinois | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Invitationals |
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| Regionals | ||||||||||||||||||
| States | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nationals | ||||||||||||||||||
State Website: http://www.illinoisolympiad.org/ | ||||||||||||||||||