By Christina Leslie | Correspondent

Four Catholic schools in the Diocese of Trenton took home the top three prizes in the annual Monsignor Donovan Scholastic Olympics held March 13 in the Toms River high school. Seventh grade teams from St. Joseph School, Toms River, and St. Veronica School, Howell, tied for first place in the competition, while St Dominic School, Brick, clinched second and Holy Family School, Lakewood, tied with Howell North School for third place.

Eighteen Catholic, public and private schools from Ocean and Monmouth counties sent students to the competition designed to stimulate academic interest and highlight achievements at the seventh grade level. School teams were placed into three different divisions depending upon their seventh grade enrollment, and each division-winning school received a trophy and was ranked for top overall honors based upon points for medal winners and combined test scores. Individual student medalists in each of eight subject areas received financial scholarship letters for future enrollment in Monsignor Donovan High School.

Student team members were tested for their acumen in the fields of art, English, history, mathematics, music, science, spelling and technology. They took written exams, worked on computer and hands-on projects, sketched still-life pictures and took part in a spelling bee as they attempted to join the ranks of past scholars.

Tied as overall contest winner, St. Veronica School also topped the division one schools with its seven medals in five categories. Team members and their individual honors included Gabriella Nuzzolese, silver in science; Conor Carrigy and Lauren Poulillo, gold and silver in history; Nicholas Palmer, silver in technology; Olivia D’Andrea and Chancelor Assiamah, gold and silver in music; and Gabriela Abbazia, silver in spelling.

Sharing the first place overall position, St. Joseph School, who won last year’s competition, also placed first in this year’s division two category as it earned nine medals in seven subject areas. Among the team members who contributed to the tally were Katherine Uffer, silver, science; Caitlin Chiu, gold in mathematics; Justin Juanillo and Christian Cmur, silver and bronze in history; Isaiah Ulep, bronze, English; Michael Scolaro, bronze, technology; Maxwell Dalton and Patrick Maguire, gold and bronze in spelling; and Fiona Trahan, gold in music.

St. Dominic School earned second place overall, up one position from last year’s performance. The Brick school’s seventh graders took home a total of seven medals in five subject areas. Team members and their individual honors included Brennan Hall, tied for gold in science; Carmela Pescatere, gold, and Liam Mailley, silver, both in English; Marco Cocuzza, gold, and Mary Goodyear, bronze, both in art; Lauren Pender, silver in technology; and Caroline Luckhowec, bronze in music.

Holy Family School, Lakewood, placed third overall, tied with Howell North School. Holy Family’s tally in the contest was 10 medals in seven categories; the student winners were Victoria Platt, bronze in science; Michael Roberts and Gregory Beitler, gold and bronze in mathematics; John Murphy, bronze in history; Marta Pawka and Natalie Stasik, silver and bronze in English; Matthew Pelkowski and Kimberly Menck, silver and bronze in art; Rahmiel Ballesteros, gold in technology; and Veronika Spiewak, bronze in spelling.

Three additional schools competed in either division one or two of the contest. Their scholars and medal awards included:

St. Paul School, Princeton: Gabby Tiedemann, gold in science; Mia Heim, gold in English.

All Saints Regional Catholic School, Manahawkin: Francesca Abenante, tied for gold in science; Connor Maguire, bronze in science; Maggie Murphy, silver in mathematics; Skylar Devanna, silver in art; Casey Conklin, tied for silver in music.

St. Aloysius School, Jackson: Chris Kuran, gold in history.