Thirteen Orange County students qualified to compete (see picture below) in the United States National
Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO) Exam held on April 18, 2026, at the University of California, Irvine (UCI).
| Student | Teacher | School |
|---|---|---|
| Liran Zhu Shannon Imaoka Carson Gan Riley Bredall Jiayou Liu Martin Kovachev Thomas Wu Henry Robbins Steven Luo Mason Lee Spencer Bystrom Ian Chen Aditya Sivakoti |
Justin Kim Heather Johnson Michael Tran Andrea Chou Nicholas Brighton Andrea Chou Nicholas Brighton Jennifer Blackie Michael Tran Tim Jones Tim Jones Kyle Devlin Jennifer Blackie |
Troy OC School of Arts Arnold O. Beckman St. Margaret’s Episcopal University St. Margaret’s Episcopal University Woodbridge Arnold O. Beckman Los Alamitos Los Alamitos Troy Woodbridge |
Orange County had five students earn the rank of Honors on the National Exam.
● Riley Bredall
● Carson Gan
● Martin Kovachev
● Steven Luo
● Thomas Wu
Two students in Orange County earned the rank of High Honors on the National Exam
● Shannon Imaoka
● Liran Zhu
In addition to earning High Honors, both Shannon and Liran were selected as top 20 finalists and will participate in the 2026 USNCO Study Camp at the University of Maryland.
The national average on Part One of the USNCO (the only part released) was 43.3%, while our Orange County average was 61.6%. The top scorer on this part of the USNCO from OC was Liran Zhu with a score of 56 or 93.3%.