The Russellville team had a flight that hit the lowest score of the day, but combined with their other flight score settled into seventh place nationally to bring home $2500 in the 2025 finals of the American Rocketry Challenge in Virginia, May 17. Four more of the nine state teams advanced to the second round cut and did fairly well. The returning National Champion team from Tharptown had a respectable finish as did most of the schools. The winning team this year was a Boy Scout troop from New Jersey scoring a total of 31.84, capturing the number one spot in their first trip to the finals.

Congratulations to all these students for their hard work and rocketry accomplishments.

Final Alabama school standings and scores:

Place Prize  T#         Team          City   State      score 1 score 2 total

7  $2,500 25-0003   Russellville HS (Team 2) Russellville AL 44.92 0.2 45.12

Place   T#           Team            City     State       score 1  score 2  total

14   25-0017   Muscle Shoals HS (Team 2) Muscle Shoals AL 5 48.8 53.8

15   25-1850   Tuscumbia City Schools Tuscumbia AL 19.04 36.72 55.76

22   25-0322   Tharptown HS (Team 1) Russellville AL 30.56 47.64 78.2

40   25-1841   Columbia High School   Huntsville AL 10 780.84 790.84

First round only

Place   T#          Team                City     State       score

47   25-0344 Russellville High School (Team 1) Russellville AL 57.32

67   25-0419 Tharptown High School (Team 2) Russellville AL 100.8

69   25-0616 Lawrence County High School Moulton AL 102.2

87   25-0016 Muscle Shoals HS (Team 1) Muscle Shoals AL DQ

A record breaking 1,001 teams participated in the 2025 American Rocketry Challenge. Below are the nine Alabama teams from six schools (of the 32 total state teams from 20 schools) that made the top 100 best scores to earn an invitation to compete at the National Finals on May 17 in Manassas, VA. They fly to win $100,000 in prizes and the title of National Champion. The winning team will represent the United States and compete at the International Rocketry Challenge in June at the Paris Air Show. Last year only seven teams from the state went, but Tharptown came in first and Muscle Shoals fifth. Tharptown will be back to defend its national title.

Cutoff score for top 100 was 28.6. Last year it was 32.12. Cutoff score for the next twenty alternates was 33.9.

Team Number        School                   City 

25- 1841 Columbia High School            Huntsville 

25- 0616 Lawrence County High School     Moulton 

25- 0016 Muscle Shoals High School (Team 1) Muscle Shoals 

25- 0017 Muscle Shoals High School (Team 2) Muscle Shoals 

25- 0344 Russellville High School (Team 2) Russellville 

25- 0003 Russellville High School (Team 1) Russellville 

25- 0322 Tharptown High School (Team 1) Russellville 

25- 0419 Tharptown High School (Team 2) Russellville 

25- 1850 Tuscumbia City Schools         Tuscumbia 

Also going to the finals that was qualified by HARA is the 25- 1718 team from Fulton Science Academy, Alpharetta, Georgia, that state’s only team to make it.

While much of America is obsessed with college basketball in March the real hysteria is ARC rocket teams scrambling to catch a good weather day and a NAR observer on a dry field all before the launch qualification deadline 4/7. Local schools, some with multiple teams, were busy lighting up pads trying to get the magic time and altitude for a score to take them to the finals, or at least a respectable number to stand for their work all year. Some of the flight results look promising for these student scientists. Finalists in the American Rocketry Challenge will be announced 4/16.