Scholars team is third at state
By DELBERT PETERS
Contributing writer
For the second year in a row, the Goessel High School scholar's bowl team qualified for state competition, and this year received the third place trophy at Ransom. The Goessel team was in a pool with eight teams and found themselves winning individual matches as the day went along.
When pool play was over, the Bluebird five were second in their pool (having won five matches and losing two), and the top two teams in each pool advanced to the semifinal round. The Bluebird team lost to the eventual state champions, Ashland, and then won the consolation bracket to earn a trophy and medals at the 1A State Scholars Bowl Tournament.
There are 113, 1A schools and 16 of them qualified to be at the state competition.
On Feb. 7, in regional competition at Centre High School, the Bluebird team tied for first in their pool and advanced to the tournament round. The championship round pitted the home team Centre team against the Bluebirds. With one question to go, Goessel led by a slim five points, with the final question being worth 10 points. Centre answered the question correctly and took home the 1A regional trophy, and Goessel received the runner-up plaque. At State, Centre was unable to make the semifinal round.
John Wiens is the only returning participant from last year's state qualifying team. He remembers that Goessel did not advance out of pool play in 2003 but was hoping that this year's team would get further.
Coach Bruce Stucky, a long time junior high quiz bowl coach at Goessel, now also coaches the high school team said, "We practice at least once per week, and when competition starts, we try to have two practices each week,"
He continued, "We get out all the cables and buzzers to make each practice as realistic as possible."
In competition, the team can expect three questions from each of the following subject categories: science/health, social science, mathematics, language arts and fine arts. There will usually be one question from the miscellaneous category which could relate to sports, foreign language, or current events.
Stucky was very pleased with the results of this year's team. At the Heart of America League meet, Goessel finished in a three-way tie for first place in their pool, and the tie-breaker rules did not allow the Bluebird team to go on to finals.
The highlights for this season started with a third place finish at Hillsboro, a second place overtime finish at Canton-Galva, the second place at the regional meet and the third place finish at State.
Coach Stucky has assembled a 12-member team, with five members going to each meet and four students participating at a time. As the players compete during the season, Stucky can see which of his players are the ones with the quickest correct responses and the most confidence. John Wiens, Garrett Hiebert, Janessa Wedel, Adam Goering and Ryan Janzen competed for the Bluebirds this weekend at state.
