National Champions from Alabama, the Tharptown High School’s rocketry team placed second in the International Rocketry Challenge at the Farnborough Air Show July 25, 2024. They competed against three teams total, from Japan, France and the United Kingdom which won first place.

Tharptown High School math teacher Areanna Orozco said, “We are so thankful for the opportunity to represent the United States. I am so proud of every single student and all the hard work they have put in. This was the closest score between first and second, a 10 point difference.”

• First place (UK) 834 ft 43 second (14 pts)
• Second place (USA) 811 ft 39 sec (24 pts)

Orozco said 40 percent of the score at the international competition was based on the team making a presentation, something they practiced in front of an audience as part of their special day of Space and Rocket Center activities. 

Franklin County’s Tharptown High School has sent a team to the national finals six times since the program started in 2018. THS has now placed in the top 10 four times, including a second-place finish in 2023.

Tharptown High School from Russellville, Alabama, won first place and earned the title of National Champion at the world’s largest rocketry competition, the American Rocketry Challenge, at The Plains, Virginia. Tharptown bested a record-breaking 922 teams that entered the competition at the start of the year and the top 100 teams competing at National Finals on Sunday, May 19, designing, building, and launching a model rocket with greater precision than any other team in the country.

Tharptown High School students will take home $20,000 and will represent the United States in the International Rocketry Challenge at the Farnborough Air Show, outside London, in July. Muscle Shoals High School came in fifth and won $8500. Huntsville’s John Paul II High School did not make the cut to the second round.

“We all work together as a team and come together to give input,” said Kylee Beard, Tharptown High School’s team captain. “We have one senior on our team, one sophomore, and the rest of us are juniors, so we’re looking forward to success in the years ahead.”

Tharptown High School has become a rocketry powerhouse, sending a team to the National Finals six times since the program started in 2018. Tharptown High School has now placed in the top 10 four times, including a second-place finish last year and tenth in 2022. The team is mentored by Andrew Heath, who was the team captain of the Russellville City Schools team that won the International Rocketry Challenge in 2015. Tharptown’s win marks the second Alabama and Russellville National ARC Championship.

The team’s victory follows months of preparation designing, building, and testing a rocket capable of meeting rigorous mission parameters set by the contest’s sponsors – the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), National Association of Rocketry, and more than 20 industry partners. To qualify for the finals, each team designed, built, and launched a model rocket that safely carried one large hen egg to an altitude of 820 feet, stays airborne for between 43 and 46 seconds, and returns the rocket to the ground safely. At the National Finals, a Friday night coin flip determined that competing teams had to launch the rockets to 850 feet with a flight duration of 43-46 seconds in the first round of competition. The top 24 teams conducted a second launch that was required to reach 800 feet with a flight duration of 43-46 seconds. For the first time in ARC history Saturday was rained out and the launch was held the next day.

Now in its 22nd year, the American Rocketry Challenge has inspired nearly 95,000 middle and high school students to date to explore education and careers in STEM fields. “Twenty-one years ago, I walked on the same field as these competitors, preparing my home-built rocket for flight,” said NASA Astronaut Woody Hoburg present for the launch. “These competitions are catalysts for innovation, challenging young explorers to collaborate and get their hands dirty building a real flight vehicle. Congratulations to all the National Finalists for their ingenuity, hard work, and perseverance. These skills will serve students for years to come, as they embark on their careers and create technologies to solve the world’s biggest challenges.”

ARC 2024 Alabama Team Final Results

Place   Team      City     State           Flight 1 Flight 2 Total

1    Tharptown High School   Russellville  AL     3      1   4

2    Spring Grove  School    Spring Grove  PA     5    2  7

3    AIAA Orange County  Team 1    Irvine  CA     7.32      6.72      14.04

4    Festus High School         Festus      MO    9     13          22

5    Muscle Shoals Team 1  Muscle Shoals AL   8.28   15.32  23.6

27   St. John Paul II      Huntsville                  AL     23

38   Russellville High School   Russellville                AL     34.4

55   Lawrence County High School Moulton       AL     51.64

70   Muscle Shoals Team 2   Muscle Shoals            AL     73.56

98   Thompson High School    Alabaster        AL     DNF

Five ARC teams from north Alabama including one from Huntsville made the best scores in the country and are going to the finals. The schools are:

Last year Tharptown High School from Russellville was second nationally with John Paul II High School of Huntsville third. This year they’re both going back along with Lawrence County High School that was also in the top hundred of 2023.

The finalists will compete on May 18 for the title of National Champion at The Plains, Virginia. In addition to the $100,000 prize pool, finalists will compete for the title of National Champion of the American Rocketry Challenge, which includes an all-expenses-paid trip to London for the International Rocketry Challenge in July.

To qualify for the National Finals participating teams designed, built, and launched model rockets that could safely carry a payload of one raw egg with a target flight duration of 43-46 seconds and an altitude of 820 feet. Cutoff score for top 100 was 32.12.

Total registered from the state for 2024 were 38 teams from 24 schools; 11 schools had multiple teams. We salute these teams and their work in rocketry.

The end of March means the end is coming of qualification attempts for the American Rocketry Challenge. Many teams were scrambling on the sunny days to get their eggloft flights scored and submitted. Here are some scenes of local action.

The state was made proud May 20 at the world’s largest student rocketry competition as Alabama teams from Russellville and Huntsville came in second and third out of 100 teams from across the country competing at the American Rocketry Challenge. More than 4,500 students from nearly 800 teams in 45 states entered the 2023 competition which held the finals at The Plains, Va. The Hardin Valley Academy Team from Knoxville, Tenn. was crowned National Champion. They will get $20,000 for the team, $1,000 for the school and a trip to the International Rocketry Challenge at the Paris Air Show in June. Tharpstown in 2nd Place will receive $15,000 for the team, $1,000 for the school and 3rd place John Paul II will get $12,500 for the team, $1,000 for the school.

The Tharptown team is shown in pink shirts, John Paul II in blue shirts.

Competing teams had to launch the rockets to 875 feet with a flight duration of 43-46 seconds in the first round of competition. The top 42 teams conducted a second launch that was required to reach exactly 825 feet with a flight duration of 41-44 seconds. All nine Alabama teams present at the finals made the cut to move forward to the second round. California was the next most having seven teams advance out of the 15 attending from their state. They did have a group from Orange County come in fourth.

This was Huntsville’s best TARC year since 2013 when John Paul II was fourth and Liberty Middle was eighth nationally. Bob Jones was third in 2010. Tharptown finished tenth last year.

The John Paul II team mentor is Duane Meyer, who also is the reigning HARA Geezer TARC champion.

Here are the teams, places and scores.

Place School City State Flight 1 Flight 2 Score

1 Hardin Valley Academy Team 1 Knoxville TN 11.4 2 13.4

2 Tharptown High School Russellville AL 13.8 1 14.8

3 John Paul II High School Team 2 Huntsville AL 17 6.92 23.92

16 Hackleburg High School Hackleburg Alabama 30.76 28 58.76

23 Lawrence County High School Moulton Alabama 39 36.36 75.36

34 Haleyville City Schools Haleyville Alabama 49.24 65.52 114.76

35 Winfield City High School Winfield Alabama 29.72 102.72 132.44

36 West Morgan High School Trinity Alabama 26 222.32 248.32

37 John Paul II High School Team 1 Huntsville Alabama 37.12 946.92 984.04

38 Bob Jones High School Madison Alabama 9.44 DQ 9.44

As participants launched for points, a TARC alumnus was circling above them in space. NASA astronaut Warren “Woody” Hoburg competed in the National Finals of the inaugural American Rocketry Challenge in 2003. Twenty years later, in March 2023, Hoburg blasted off to space as the Pilot of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station (ISS). His journey to space began with a model rocket.

For several years the state has consistently delivering a half dozen teams to the TARC finals and this year had another good showing.  These teams from Alabama scored in the top hundred ranking nationally and will compete for the 2023 championship at The Plains, Virginia as they vie for $100,000 in prizes and an all-expense paid trip to Paris for the International Finals.

The schools and cities are:

Bob Jones High School                           Madison

Hackleburg High School                         Hackleburg

Haleyville City Schools                           Haleyville

Lawrence County High School                Moulton

St. John Paul II Catholic High School Team 1     Huntsville

St. John Paul II Catholic High School Team 2     Huntsville

Tharptown High School                          Russellville

West Morgan High School                      Trinity

Winfield City High School                      Winfield

The Huntsville/Madison area fielded eight TARC teams this season. HARA is particularly proud of the three teams – The Falcon Rocketeers and Noah’s TARC (both from John Paul II Catholic High School) and the team from Bob Jones High School that scored well enough (20-30 points) to place among the top 100 teams in the country.

HARA would like to salute the other Huntsville area teams for their efforts in building and flying this year:

Girl Scouts of North Alabama (2 teams)

St. John Paul II C.H.S. (3rd team)

Huntsville School of Cyber Technology and Engineering (2 teams)

Scenes of team’s launches are shown here.

The state had a total of 38 teams for 2023. Thanks to the rest of these Alabama schools for registering and participating in TARC.

Alabaster Thompson High School (2 teams)

Bear Creek Phillips Engineering

Cullman Area Technology Academy

Florence Central High School

Florence Rogers High School

Girl Scouts of Central Alabama (2 teams)

Haleyville City Schools

Lincoln High School

Mobile School of Mathematics and Science

Muscle Shoals City Schools (2 teams)

Phil Campbell High School

Russellville High Schools (2 teams)

Tharptown High School

Sylvania High School

Trinity West Morgan High School (2 teams)

Trussville High School (2 teams)

Wetumpka High School

For several years the state has consistently delivering a half dozen teams to the TARC finals. These teams from Alabama scored in the top hundred ranking nationally and will compete for the 2022 championship against teams from 26 states on May 14 at The Plains, Virginia as they vie for $100,000 in prizes and an all-expense paid trip to London for the International Finals.

The schools and cities are:

Tharptown High School*, Russellville

Lincoln High School*, Lincoln

Russellville High Schools*, Russellville

West Morgan Middle School, Trinity

Colbert County 4-H, Tuscumbia

Muscle Shoals High School, Muscle Shoals

*Were also at the finals last year. Russellville finished in fifth place.

Other Alabama teams selected as alternates are Phil Campbell High School, Phil Campbell, and Hackleburg High School, Hackleburg.

HARA would like to salute the seven Huntsville area teams for their efforts in building and flying this year:

Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama (2 rookie teams)

Civil Air Patrol – Redstone Squadron

St. John Paul II C.H.S. (2 teams)

Bob Jones High School

James Clemens High School.

Thanks to the rest of these Alabama schools for registering and participating in TARC.

Cullman Area Technology Academy, Cullman

Thompson High School, Alabaster

Alabama School of Mathematics and Science, Mobile

Hewitt Trussville High School (4 teams), Trussville

Winfield City High School, Winfield.

It was a foggy morning June 12 when the launch began but the ten finalist teams from Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee attended and made all twenty allowable flights. When all the scores were tallied nationally Russellville High School Team One from Russellville, Alabama came in fifth and won $8500. Tharptown High School, also from Russellville, made ninth. Alabama was the only state besides California to have two teams finish in the top ten. Hosted by the Birmingham Rocket Boys NAR section and led by President Ronald Dunn plenty of volunteers were on hand to set up, run the range and score the flights. It was an admirable performance by NAR to complete the TARC program for the pandemic year by spreading the finals out to ten regional fields. HARA was represented by Vince, Bill and Duane, who had fun with various timing and scoring duties. No eggs were broken by the teams, but two flights ejected the motors and unfortunately had to be disqualified.

Here are the finals scores of the schools at the Birmingham launch.

Place            School            City        State  Total Flight 1  Flight 2

In a very anomalous TARC season that began in 2019 these teams from Alabama scored in the top one hundred ranking nationally and will compete in the finals to close out 2021. It’s almost the same group that made the finals last time. http://hararocketry.org/hara/six-alabama-tarc-teams-going-to-finals-in-virginia/

The schools and cities are:

Tharptown High School T1, Russellville
Lincoln High School, Lincoln
Russellville High School T1, Russellville
Russellville High School T2, Russellville
Winfield City High School, Winfield
Hewitt-Trussville High School, Trussville
Hackleburg High School, Hackleburg

Other Alabama teams selected as alternates are:

Tharptown High School T2, Russellville
Civil Air Patrol – Redstone Composite Squadron, Huntsville
St. John Paul II C.H.S.,  Huntsville

The cutoff score for making the top 100 this year was 37.06, which is respectable considering the contagion circumstances. It was 36 in 2019, the last “normal” year. There were 615 teams in TARC-2021 and although many of them were never able to get together, build, and fly due to COVID, TARC still ended up with 282 teams submitting qual flight scores.

Rather than have the finals with all 100 teams in Virginia as usual, the finals will be broken down to eleven regional sites with fewer teams present on each field. The Birmingham Rocket Boys NAR Section will host TARC June 12. The results from those flights will be sent to TARC headquarters which will compile the scores and announce the winners at the TARC 2021 Awards ceremony (online) on June 28.

Congratulations to these teams for their success and the opportunity to represent the state. Russellville High won first place in TARC in 2015.