Brentwood elementary students made outstanding showings at last weekend’s California Odyssey of the Mind competition, highlighted by a pair of teams that earned the right to represent Brentwood for the first time at the world finals in May. More than 100 schools participated in the competition, which was held at Heritage High School for the third straight year.

Brentwood Elementary’s two fifth-grade teams earned first-place awards and the right to head to Michigan State University for the final competition. The school’s Food Court team, coached by Bart Schneider, Jessica McCurdy and Michelle Valadez, includes students Casey Schneider, Will McCurdy, Tyler Valadez, Sam Goldman, Jack Mitchener, Emily Gonzalez and Gillian Gash. Its first-place Nature Trail team features Veronika Wallace, Allyson Russell, Hannah Eelsing, Cole Zanarini, Cody Rohrbacker and Nathan Barsanti, and is coached by Susan Wallace and Lynelle Russell.

Krey Elementary’s Nature Trail team placed third – narrowly missing the opportunity to join its cross-town counterpart on the trip to Michigan. The team was coached by Lori and Al Churby, and fielded students Angelo DeJesus, Steven Plate, Jennifer Plate, Kaila Malzahn, Ahmed Alani, Stone Churby and Giovanni Alvarez. Finishing eighth last weekend was Loma Vista’s fourth-grade Discovered Treasures team: Emily Bernamonti, Riley Ehlen, Caitlyn Graves, Shaylee Hanson, Madeline Koontz, Jaden Rodriguez and Maya Davies.

Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college.

For a complete list of Odyssey of the Mind winners, visit www.calomer.org/joomla.