By Christina Leslie | Correspondent

Catholic school students exercised their most important muscles – their brains – during the 24th annual Donovan Catholic Scholastic Olympics held March 21 in the Toms River high school. The contest saw the seventh-grade Gators of St. Aloysius School, Jackson, achieve first in their division and earn seven individual medals on their way to placing second in the Olympics overall.

This year’s academic contest attracted a field of 15 area Catholic, public and private schools which were grouped into divisions depending upon their seventh-grade enrollment. Individual students were tested in the eight subject areas of art, English, history, mathematics, music, science, spelling and technology as they competed for medals and financial scholarship letters for future enrollment in Donovan Catholic. Each division-winning school received a trophy and was ranked for top overall honors based upon points for medal winners and combined test scores.

St. Aloysius’ Twitter and Facebook feeds show the triumphant team mugging around their hard earned trophy with the words “Awesome team effort… you make us proud!”

Participating Catholic schools and their student winners were:

Division One

St. Aloysius: Nicholas Tozzi (silver, science); Dominic Attalierti (silver, math); Claire Cinquegnan (gold, English); Stephanie Tozzi (bronze, art); Brandon Harness (gold, technology); Hope DiGiovanni (gold, spelling), and Trinity Hood (gold, music).

All Saints Regional Catholic School, Manahawkin: Frederick Grimste (gold, history); Ryan Schiller (bronze, history); Samantha Blackler (bronze, English); Madelyn Mohr (silver, art); Ian Conord (silver, technology), and Anna Burnett (silver, music).

St. Peter School, Point Pleasant Beach: Liam Harm (gold, science); Mary West (silver, history); Lily Reitiano (silver, English), and Michael Yorke (bronze, technology).

St. Veronica School, Howell: Alex Feuer (bronze, math); Faith Whittstruck (bronze, spelling).

Division Two

St. Dominic School, Brick: Catherine Clockey (bronze, science); Austin Huvane (silver, history); Alexander Talmayan (silver, English); Sarah Ebinger (bronze, English); Danielle Murat (gold, technology); Madelyn Gehme (bronze, technology); Kate Stoughton (silver, spelling), and Molly MacIsaac (silver, music).

St. Joseph School, Toms River: Richard Schenk (gold, history); Lena Martinez (bronze, history); Miriam Rice (gold, English); Angelique Gajano (silver, art); Vivian Drew-Pernia (bronze, art); Rocco Nicoletta (silver, technology); Alexa Beck (bronze, spelling); Gabriella Caridado (gold, music), and Joseph Ferrallo (bronze, music).