MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- Murfreesboro's Central Magnet School and St. Rose of Lima Catholic School captured first place in their respective high school and middle school divisions to wrap up the 25th annual Regional Science Olympiad at MTSU Saturday, Feb. 22.

The tournament, held at various venues on the campus, found nearly 450 students competing in a combined 46 events.

Science Olympiad is an American team competition in which students compete in 23 events pertaining to various scientific disciplines, including earth science, biology, chemistry, physics and engineering.

Central Magnet finished ahead of Franklin and Smyrna in the high school division. St. Rose placed first, Dayspring Academy of Greenbrier, Tennessee, was second, Blackman Middle third and Smyrna Middle placed fourth in the middle school category. All will advance to the State Science Olympiad Saturday, April 25, at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

Pat Patterson, an MTSU chemistry professor who has served as Regional Science Olympiad director for the past 19 years, thanked the dozens of faculty and student volunteers and Bud Fischer, dean of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences, for helping fund the event this year.

The competition emphasizes the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Eleven middle schools and 10 high schools combined to bring nearly 30 teams to the tournament. A number of former Science Olympiad participants have become teachers and now coach teams at their schools.

The Elementary Science Olympiad will be held Saturday, May 2, at John Pittard Elementary School in Murfreesboro.