Contributing writer
Success has followed the Goessel High School scholars’ bowl team again this year. Both the varsity and junior varsity teams won the Wheat State League scholars’ bowl meet on Jan. 11.
Goessel’s varsity team, consisting of seniors Braden Unruh, Alex Schmidt, Jeff Hall, Stephan Goertzen and juniors Johanna Hoffman and Garrett Woelk, compiled a record of 7-0 at the meet hosted at White City.
Underclassmen who represented Goessel on the junior varsity team were sophomores Mark Schmidt, Heath Goertzen, Ben Wiens, Reece Hiebert and freshmen Aaron Woelk and Gentry Thiessen. The JV team had a record of 5-1 on their way to winning first place in their division.
Several days before the league meet, the Bluebirds participated in a scholars’ bowl contest at Bishop Carroll against some of the largest schools in the state. After early rounds placed Goessel in the third (lowest) flight the Bluebirds began winning.
“It was here that we beat Wichita North, Wichita West, Great Bend, Hesston, and Wichita Northwest twice,” said a delighted coach Wes Schmidt-Tieszen. Goessel claimed first place in the third flight.
The Bluebirds are preparing to compete at the regional tournament hosted at Centre High School on Thursday. The top three teams will earn a berth at the state competition in Leroy on Feb 11. A return trip to state is one of the goals for the Goessel team this year.
Schmidt-Tieszen has selected Unruh, Alex Schmidt, Hall, Stephan Goertzen, Hoffman and Wiens to be the team that represents Goessel at this week’s tournament. Class 1A Division I will have 45 schools competing at the regional level. There are four regional sites, with 11 teams in the Centre regional.