Professional football’s Super Bowl may be taking place today, but for hundreds of young Hawaii scientists like Waianae High School juniors Ashley Kekahuna and Iesha Chamness, it’s still the thick of the playoffs.

The Leeward Regionals of the Hawai‘i State Science Olympiad took place Saturday at Leeward Community College. Private school science powerhouse ‘Iolani School took first place in the high school and middle school team categories, meaning it will advance to the state Olympiad on March 9. Also advancing were Mililani and Moanalua high schools, plus Pearl Highlands Intermediate and Kapolei Middle School.

The winners of the statewide final will go to the national Olympiad finals at the University of Central Florida in May.

The Olympiad is put on by a volunteer group of educators, from college professors to retired elementary school teachers, who want to raise students’ interest in science.

"We love science, we love kids and we love seeing kids get excited about doing science," said Franklin Allaire, state director and president of the 8-year-old Hawai‘i State Science Olympiad and a Kalani High School science teacher.

The director of Saturday’s regional was Helmut Kae, a professor of microbiology at Leeward Community College.

Kae was most excited to see students from a host of new schools participating in this year’s regional, among them Nanakuli, Waianae and Waipahu high schools.

The Olympiad has seen annual exponential growth. This year, there are teams from about 70 schools from four islands, representing nearly 1,200 students, Allaire said.

That’s up from just fewer than 50 schools a year ago.

"Every year it gets bigger and bigger. It’s awesome," said Allaire, whose excitement is on about the same level as the students participating. "It tells us there’s a real need, a real thirst for this kind of thing. And we’re just happy to do it."

While Kekahuna and Chamness’ Waianae team won’t be making it to the finals this year, the two took home a first-place medal in the "gravity vehicle" category that asked teams to create a gravity-driven car that can stop where it is instructed to.

"They give you a measurement and they (the cars) have to stop at that measurement," Kekahuna said.

Using a threaded rod and wheels found in robotic vehicles, the pair built a simple car that stopped almost exactly where judges wanted it to stop.

"Simple is good sometimes," exclaimed proud Waianae biology teacher and science club adviser Tanya Factora.

The two girls said they spent hours making calculations on their vehicle, only to have to recalculate everything the night before the tournament after discovering that cleaning the vehicle’s parts made it travel faster.

At first, judges questioned the qualifications of the vehicle because it had only two wheels. But the girls pointed out there’s nothing in the rules that defined a vehicle as having wheels, and the judges let them continue.

"A vehicle, as long as it moves, is considered a vehicle," Chamness said.

The two first-time participants said they are excited about returning to the competition next year as seniors.