Washington High School Scholar Bowl sent three teams to Sullivan High School on Saturday, November 13.
In the morning preliminaries, the 36 teams in attendance were placed into six brackets of six teams each that played a round robin. The top two teams from each bracket made the playoffs.
In prelims, WHS A went 5-0 with wins over Helias B, Calvary Lutheran B, Moberly B, Owensville A, and Hickman. WHS B went 5-0 with wins over Fatima B, Cuba, Jefferson City A, Parkway South A, and Mexico. Both A and B won their bracket and made the playoffs. WHS C went 1-4 with a win over SLUH, and missed the playoffs.
In the afternoon consolation matches, WHS C went 3-0 with wins over Russellville, Fatima B, and Lutheran St. Charles to finish in 31st place. Team members were Dani Benhardt, Jobe Weber, Victor Hoang, and Aidan Van Leer.
For the playoffs, the 12 teams were placed into three groups of four. The bracket winners, plus the top second-place finisher, reached a seeded super playoffs.
In the playoffs, WHS B beat Calvary Lutheran A and Moberly A, but a 30-point loss to Palmyra kept them from winning the bracket, and they missed out on the wildcard by the same margin. That put them in contention for fifth place.
WHS A opened the playoffs with a loss to Rolla by 20 points. They rebounded with wins over Columbia Independent A and Sullivan. After the dust cleared in a bracket with no undefeated team, WHS won the playoff bracket based on total points scored.
Due to a mailing or printing error, there were only 11 packets of questions available, meaning the usual system of round-robins couldn't take place. Instead, the super playoff rounds were seeded, first by playoff placement, then by total points scored.
WHS A had the top seed and played Sullivan again for the right to be in the final. Palmyra faced Oakville for the other slot. In the fifth-place bracket, WHS B faced Rolla, and Orchard Farm took on Calvary Lutheran A.
Both WHS A and B won their first game, placing A in the final, and B finishing no worse than sixth. The tournament was run on questions by NAQT, who hosts a national tournament in Atlanta in May. To qualify, a team has to finish in the top 15 percent at a tournament that uses their questions. The round 9 win meant that WHS has earned two bids to nationals, one for A and one for B.
The B team dropped the final match to Orchard Farm to finish sixth overall. Team members were Hayden Ley, Alina Hayden, Cameron Schenkel and Austin Gober.
WHS A lead Palmyra at half, but Palmyra closed the gap in the second half, and just eked past WHS on the last question to win, 280-275, giving WHS the second-place trophy. Team members were Vincent Hoang, Samantha Doepker, Kyle Meyer and Grace Nuckolls.
Washington High School, coached by David Dennis, hosts a 36-team tournament on December 4.
WHS A Places Second
Washington High School A Scholar Bowl finished in second place at Sullivan. Team members, from left, are Vincent Hoang, Samantha Doepker, Kyle Meyer and Grace Nuckolls.
WHS B Places Sixth
Washington High School B Scholar Bowl finished in sixth place at Sullivan. Team members, from left, are Hayden Ley, Alina Hayden, Cameron Schenkel and Austin Gober.
WHS C Scholar Bowl
Washington High School C Scholar Bowl finished in 31st place at Sullivan. Team members, from left, are Dani Benhardt, Jobe Weber, Victor Hoang, and Aidan Van Leer.