Pekin schools fared well Saturday at the Odyssey of the Mind regional tournament at Peoria's Woodruff High, officials said.

Odyssey of the Mind is the world's only international creativity competition for children. Teams become masters of creative problem solving and give complex multimedia presentations.

(Tazewell County teams) did a fantastic job," said Jan Darnell, district coordinator for OM for District 108. "We were proud of all of them."

While teams that finish first or second in their division move on to compete at the state level, all the students win by learning, Darnell said.

The state competition will be held at Pekin Community High School this year on April 24. More than 700 students and their families are expected to attend, Darnell said.

Students are divided into three divisions by age. Division I is for students no older than 12; Division II is for students 13-15 years old; and Division III is for students older than 15.

There were five categories this year. In "Over the Mountain," teams had to design a vehicle with two modes of propulsion; in "EnvirOnMental Challenge" the teams found a new habitat for an endangered species; in "O My Faire Shakespeare" they wrote an original play which included lines from one of eight different Shakespearean plays; in "RatiOMetric Structure" they weight-tested a structure made of balsa wood; and in "CustOMer Service the teams created and sold a product they had developed.

Results

Here are the results from Odyssey of the Mind Regional Director Judy Gross, listed in order of finish:

Over the Mountain

Division II -- Marseilles Elementary School; Mark Bills School Team B, both of Peoria; and Washington Intermediate Team A, Pekin.

Division III -- Pekin Community High School; Dunlap Middle School; and Central Junior High School, Monmouth.

EnvirOnMental Challenge

Division I -- Washington School Team A, Peoria; Bent School of Bloomington; and Marseilles Elementary School.

Division II -- Washington Intermediate School Team A, of Pekin; Lindberg Middle School of Peoria; and Bloomington Junior High School.

O My Faire Shakespeare

Division I -- St. Edwards of Chillicothe; Bent School Bloomington; Washington Intermediate School Team A of Pekin.

Division II -- Lindberg Middle School of Peoria; Bloomington Junior High School; and Edison Junior High School of Pekin. (Gross said the judging for third place was very close and the result may be changed).

Division III -- Washington School of Peoria

Ratiometric structure

Division I -- Lindberg Middle School of Peoria, Bent School of Bloomington; and Mark Bills of Peoria

Division II -- Lindberg Middle School Team A of Peoria; Mark Bills School

CustOMer Service

Division I -- Washington Middle School Team A of Peoria; Brigham Elementary of Bloomington; and Von Stueben Junior High School, Peoria

Division II -- Broadmoor Junior High School, of Pekin; Edison Junior High School Team B of Pekin; Dunlap Middle School.