State Science Olympiad Results Best Ever

On Saturday, Tandem Science Olympiad state team members competed in the State SO tournament, which culminated in a historic performance for the TFSSO program and was truly a fitting conclusion to the program's 10th year. The Upper School team placed higher than any Central Virginia school, public or private, only outscored by huge Northern Virginia schools. At the beginning of the season, an incredible number of high schools from across Virginia registered to participate in the 2026 VASO season; only 24 would qualify to send full 15-person teams to the state tournament. Event medals were awarded to the top 6 places but it is important to emphasize that even if teams did not earn a medal in an event, their performance was likely still phenomenal and worthy of a medal at the regional level, only missing the score needed to medal by a few points. Into this environment, a team of MS TFSSO students AND a team of US TFSSO students dove in ready to compete with elite VASO programs.

 

Saturday was the debut of TFSSO at the VASO Division B state tournament, marking an exciting return of Science Olympiad to TFS middle school! Our Division B competitors were able to celebrate success at the awards ceremony, where Henry P and Lucien D earned the first Division B state medal for the TFSSO program with 4th place in Hovercraft. Henry F's and Daniel C's Scrambler deserves a shout out as well as the 8th place performance by Alex Dillon and Everett Hyer in Mystery Architecture. Here is the link to the full tournament results for Division B.

 

On the upper school side, our Division C TFSSO team earned 12th place overall, from an elite field of large public and private schools from across the state. It was the highest team place ever earned by Tandem at a state tournament and a program record of 5 state medals. John B & Eli C earned 6th place in Dynamic Planet, Will M & Nati Y earned 4th place in Entomology, Jack J & Lucy L earned 4th place in Hovercraft, John B & Owen S earned 2nd place in Robot Tour, & Luna B and Will M earned 5th place in Water Quality. John B also set a TFS school record for state medals earned in a student career, winning 5 medals across his 3 years of participation, notably 1st and 2nd place medals with the same robot all 3 years. There were 7th place finishes in three additional events: Eli C & Jude G earned 7th in Boomilever, Owen S & Annie R earned 7th in Electric Vehicle, and Jude G & Nati Y earned 7th in Rocks and Minerals. Along with the 11th place finish in Codebusters by John B, Eli C, and Nati Y, the Division C team placed in the top 50% in 9 of 23 official scoring events, exceeding last year's record of 8. Here is the link to the overall results of the VASO state tournament for Division C.

 

Finally, Coach Alex Siragy was honored with the VASO Coach of the Year award. Click here for a Channel 29 news story on the tournament that features an interview with Coach Alex and footage of John B & Owen S with their robot.