GHS scholars' bowl team ties for seventh at state
By DELBERT PETERS
Contributing writer
For the sixth year in a row, the Goessel High School Scholars' Bowl team qualified for the 1A state tournament.
The tournament this year was Saturday at Leroy-Southern Coffey County High School.
Ninety-two 1A schools competed in the tournament, but only the top 16 teams, compiled from eight regional tournaments, competed in the championship rounds.
At the meet Goessel got off to a fast start with two victories, but knew its stiffest competition was yet to come.
The Bluebird team finished with a record of 3-4 and tied for seventh place.
Showing how close the competition was, three of the losses for the Bluebirds were by a total of 25 points.
In regional pool play Feb. 2, three teams were tied for second and the Bluebird squad won second place by tie-breaker rules.
In the championship round at regionals, again three teams were tied for second, and again Goessel took second place by virtue of the tie-breaker rules.
First-year head coach Wes Schmidt-Tieszen selected six players to represent Goessel at the final two meets of the season.
Four players compete in each match, and the players rotate between matches, so everyone gets to test their skills with other players during the day.
This year's team consisted of Matt Johnston, Anthony Esau, Stefan Henkel, Laird Goertzen, Adam Meising, and Chris Johnston.
In each match there are three questions from the areas of social studies, language arts, math, and science; two questions from the area of fine arts and one question each in the area of foreign language and year in review.
In order to score points, players not only have to know the answers, but also have to be confident enough to "buzz in" before the competition.
"Matt Johnston had an outstanding day," coach Schmidt-Tieszen said after the state tournament. "Usually a good student may average two correct answers per game, but Matt averaged three correct answers in each game at state.
"Anthony Esau also was very steady today. [We] did very well."
