MLHS Team #1 ends fifth in Senior High K-Bowl’s A Division at state contest
(*Updated article with new photos)
The four-member Mountain Lake Public High School (MLHS) Senior High Knowledge Bowl (K-Bowl) Team #1 was able to select from a full buffet as their fed their hunger for knowledge during their participation in the Minnesota State Division A Senior High K-Bowl.
Their diet in that quest led the team – all seniors (Caleb Rempel, Hamlet Tanyavong, Daniel Harder and Reece Englund) – to a fifth-place finish with 107 points. St. John’s Prep Blue was sixth, also with 107 points. (Last year, the same foursome – plus 2014 MLHS graduate Christian Pfeiffer – ended in sixth-place.)
The quartet had earlier won both the Region 8 Sub-Regional A Division and Region 8 A Division in their arena of competition, which is the Southwest/West Central Minnesota Service Cooperative. The team took top honors in the Region 8 Sub-Regional contest held on Tuesday, March 10, at Minnesota West Community College in Worthington, easily making their way to the title, compiling 131 total team points – and spending the entire tourney competing in the “top room.” They finished on top of the Region 8 event held Thursday, March 12, on the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University-Marshall (SMSU). Thirty-six total teams competed. Three teams advanced to state. In addition to MLHS #1, Worthington #1 advanced, finishing second in the region, along with Springfield #2, who was third.
MLHS coach is Jon Harder, Mountain Lake Public School technology coordinator.
Winning the A Division, held Thursday, April 9 and Saturday, April 10, at Cragun’s Conference Center in Brainerd, was the Glencoe-Silver Lake team with 130.5 points. In second was St. John’s Prep Red (129 points), followed by Tri-City United, third (112.5) points and Plainview/Elgin/Millview, fourth (111.5 points).
The run-down from first-to-sixth in the AA Division was: 1 – Alexandria (133.5), 2 – Chaska (125.5), 3 – Buffalo (123.5), 4 – Sartell (119.5), 5 – Bemidji (118) and 6 – Big Lake (116.5).
Winners of the Heritage Spirit Awards for qualities and conduct becoming to a champion competitor are Bemidji (AA Division) and Hermantown (A Division).
A total of 48 teams in the two divisions (out of a total 944 teams across the state) competed in one written round and five oral rounds during the state event. That accounts for about 8,000 Minnesota high school students participating in K-Bowl throughout the state each year. Of those, 250 are represented at the state tournament for senior high teams.
At the state competition there is an AA Division for larger schools (this year ranging in size from 643 to 5,011 students in grades 9-12) and an A Division (114 to 525 students in grades 9-12, of which Mountain Lake is a member).
Teams include either four members, or five members (four members plus an alternate). All team members participate in the written round. In the oral rounds, after “buzzing in,” the team has 15 seconds to discuss their answer – which may only be submitted by the team’s spokesperson. Usually someone buzzes in before the question has been completely read, so that team must decide what the question was ultimately about – from among several likely options. The alternate rotates into the competition during the oral rounds.
The competition started Thursday evening with a written round of 60 questions, which gave each team their initial rank for the next day’s oral rounds.
The three highest-ranked teams start in room #1, the next three in #2, and so on, so that each team competes against two similarly-skilled teams.
At the end of each of the five rounds of 45 oral questions, the teams accumulate points for questions answered correctly, and their rank is adjusted according to their new total. A team that is in a room with other teams of lesser skill will tend to get more answers correct and move to a higher-ranked room for the next round, while teams playing less well will move down in rank. After five oral rounds (for a total combined 285 written and oral questions), the positions have settled to give a good representation of a team’s skill level.
The scoring system recognizes that the top three rooms – #1, #2 and #3 – are very challenging and teams are awarded Strength of Scoring (SOS) points for every round a teams plays in these rooms. According to this system: Room 1 = 1.5 points, Room 2 = 1.0 and Room 3 = 0.5. Mountain Lake played in Room 3 once (first oral round) and Room 2 once (fourth oral round), and so received an additional 1.5 SOS points in their final score.
Sponsor for the competitions (both Senior High and Junior High K-Bowls), are the 11 members of the Minnesota Service Cooperative around the state.
About the Minnesota Service Cooperative K-Bowl
Minnesota Service Cooperative Knowledge Bowl competitions are interdisciplinary academic contests for students that combines intense competition with the incredible skill of knowledge recall. Team members work cooperatively to solve oral and written questions while teams race against each other to be the first to “buzz in” and answer the question correctly.
The Senior High Knowledge Bowl is for students in grades 9-12, while students in grades 7-8 compete in the Junior High K-Bowl.
During the contest, teams of students compete in written and oral rounds by answering questions related to all areas of learning, typical of secondary educational programs. Questions come from curriculum areas including American history, world history, government, current events, economics and law, geography, literature, English, mathematics, physical science, life science, earth science, health and psychology, art and music and general knowledge of Minnesota. The questions have been randomized so that within each round, there will not be a string of items from a particular curriculum area. Questions test students recall, problem solving, and critical thinking skills.
Teams compete in Round Robin contests throughout the season and a Sub-Regional, with the top teams from each tier advancing to Regionals. Finally, the top two teams from the A Division and top two teams from the AA Division – plus the third place team from either of those tiers that has the highest score – advanced to the state competition.
