At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, a six-foot-wide balloon filled with hydrogen lifted off at the tiny Quillayute Airport, between soggy Forks, Washington, and the western edge of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula.

Listed alphabetically by last name: Tyson Gordon, Omaha Skutt; Chucky Hepburn, Bellevue West; Jayme Horan, Millard South; Morgan Maly, Crete; Alexis Markowski, Lincoln Pius X; Taylor McCabe, Fremont; ...