J.C. Booth Middle School's science Olympians were welcomed home to Peachtree City Sunday night with a police escort, and a fire hose salute after capturing first place for the fourth consecutive year in the 15th annual National Science Olympiad Tournament in Chicago.

The winners stepped off the bus to the strains of "We are the Champions" by Queen and congratulations from about 150 well-wishers gathered at the school. Members of the Rising Starr Middle School science olympiad team set their own record by placing 22nd in a field of 54 teams on their first try at the nationals. McIntosh High School placed 17th in the "C" division.

"It was so competitive; a nerve wracking two days," said Debbie Condon, Fayette County school board chairman and mother of Booth competitor Michael Condon. "We were biting our nails when they announced the top ten," she said. "We knew it was close." Booth scored a total of 682 points to beat out El Rancho Middle School from Anaheim, Calif., which took second place with 661 points. Third place went to State College Middle School, from State College, Pa. with 616 points.

Mary Wilde, a science teacher at Booth and science olympiad head coach, said, "A lot of hours were put into practicing for the competition's 23 different events. There's no secret to our success. I'm proud of the group. They are a consistent team and they do well. They have team work and they helped each other place in every single event."

Wilde works to develop a top team each year with the help of parent volunteers who coach the boys and girls in the various events. "The team is different every year, but this win is just as exciting as the first," Wilde said.

The experience of competing on a nationwide level was summed up by the Booth team in one word: "Awesome!"

Booth scored points in every event, taking gold medals in several. Events such as Don't Bug Me, Nature Quest, Road Scholar, Bottle Rockets, Naked Egg Drop, Mystery Architecture and Pentathlon were just a few of the 23 categories. Booth won individual medals in 10 events, including gold medals for a record setting flight of two minutes 44 seconds for propeller propulsion by eighth graders Michael Condon and Reah Rogers. Tony Hung and Chris Taylor also took gold medals in the Battery Buggy event.

Hung won four individual medals, sharing two silver medals with Ryan Nigro for Earth, Sea and Sky and Physical Science Lab, and a third silver with Linda Ketsche for Science Crime Busters. Seventh graders Michelle Ellenburg and Jordan Worrall also won silver medals in the Open Division for Mammals. Also competing on the Booth team were Megan Bernard, Christine Ellenburg, Tori Fratto, Robert Huefner, Randy Hutchinson, Ben Lorber, John Powers, Reah Rogers and Kate Schmid.

Rising Starr's coach and science teacher Julie Gray was pleased with her team's performance. "It was a tremendous accomplishment. It's unheard of for a school in their second year of existence to be at the nationals," Gray said. "Unless you are directly involved in the competition, you can't know the tremendous amount of work on the part of the students, the parents and teachers," she added.

While placing 22nd out of 54 teams doesn't sound as impressive as first place, Gray explained that competition starts at the district level, which represents between 4,000 and 5,000 schools nationwide.