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Goessel Hosts State Scholars Bowl

Karl Brubaker on February 14, 2016

It’s been a great year!

Goessel Hosts State Scholars Bowl

Goessel had run through its Regional 9-0 in round robin play at Central-Burden.  In pool play at home Saturday afternoon, the Bluebirds put up a strong 4-1 performance to move into the championship round.   Needing one more win to bring home their fourth straight scholars bowl state trophy, Goessel stood at 2-2 going into its final round of the day.  Looming large was Leavenworth-Immaculata, who came into the round undefeated in championship round play.   Down 5-40, Goessel’s Zach Wiens brought the team back from the brink with three incredible answers in math.  With a chance to move ahead, the Green team buzzed in quicker on “Wicked” than the Blue team and it was 35-50.  Alicen correctly answered the final Fine Arts question to close to 45-50, the Blue buzzed in on Year in Review: Who did Aetna buy in 2015? (Humana) but the Bluebirds did not answer correctly and the round ended 45-50.   The Bluebirds thus finished 2-3 and were squeezed to 4^th place based on a head to head tie-breaker with Hanover in a truly “Wicked” finish.   Immaculata finished 5-0 in the championship round and earned the 1^st place trophy for 2016.

Congratulations to the Goessel Bluebirds for their 5^th excellent state performance in 5 consecutive years.  Earning 4^th in 2012, 3^rd in both 2013 and 2014 and 1^st place in IA Div I in 2015, Goessel again earned medals in 2016 for their 4^th place finish.

Team members include Seniors Zach Wiens (team captain and Scholars Bowl state team member all four years), Seniors Alicen Meysing, Luke Unruh, and Jordan Schmucker, Junior Jennifer Meysing, and Freshman Edel Miller.   Coachers are Wes Schmidt-Thieszen and Andrew Voth.   Coordinating the KSHSAA sponsored state event celebrating 30 years was Brian Lightner.  Goessel utilized a host of experienced moderators, judges, and time-keepers to host this state event.  Thanks to the many, many persons who assisted in making this huge event a success.

All teams and spectators assembled in the auditorium for opening remarks and the National Anthem.   Goessel’s quiz bowl team, including some members who did not participate at state, did a wonderful job in a brass band playing the anthem.    Comments from assembled guests continue to remember these excellent presentations by Goessel music.   One guest remembered the Goessel band at state basketball in 1988 and said today “they’re still good.”

1^st Round – Noon – Art Room          Hanover   Twin Valley League

With difficult sets of questions today, this round gave the Bluebirds an excellent start to the day with their 2nd highest point total of the tournament.   Zach got world language and Greek persuasion, Alicen nailed Heinlein and Jabberwocky.  In Science Hanover hit on molecular mass, but Zach came back with 160 joules for the 20kg child on the incline plane.  Hanover got Napoleon crowning himself and Zach buzzed in for affirmative action.   Zach was now on a roll with perfect answers in math and Jordan closed Year in Review with Joaquin for the huge 80-20 start.  Jaws dropped from supporters in the house.  1-0

2^nd Round     Mrs. Sells’ Room       Satanta      SPIAA League

Satanta is a big player in Scholars Bowl.  The SW Kansas team jumped out to a 0-40 lead through Social Science before Zach tallied a math question to go to 10-40.   Hanover got the Hawaiian dance and Jordan closed in year in review by buzzing in successfully on “who will be the face on the new $10 bill,” Eleanor Roosevelt.   20-50.     8 difficult questions in the round were not answered correctly by either team.  1-1

3^rd Round    Auditorium       Centre             Wheat State League

In Language Arts,  Zach got the animal in the Grapes of Wrath and the Greek king Tantalus before Centre correctly got the DNA sequence to go 20-10.  Jen scored a key 10 with the American Socialist Presidential candidate of 1920 (Eugene Debs) and the teams traded math success.   In Fine Arts, Centre buzzed in with Catholic and Alicen correctly responded Christianity for the 50-20 edge.  In Year in Review, fans felt it coming and there it was, “who was the Hall of Fame Yankee……”   With an interruption, Luke asserted Yogi Berra, but Goessel did not earn the 10 as he was not recognized before he answered.    Centre got a chance to answer and correctly finished for the 45-30 final.   2-1

4^th Round Mrs. Sells’ Room      Hartford      Lyon County League

In 2015 Benedikt Heyl was the world language specialist for Goessel, nearly acing that section at state.  Without a native speaker on the team this year, Goessel did very well against all opponents today.  Zach put this one on the board against Hartford to go up 10-0.   This round saw 10 questions that were not successfully answered.    In Science, Zach answered displacement of 300m but the correct answer was 300m West and it was tied 10-10.   Hartford went up with the volume of a sphere but Zach zinged back in it with the tangent of an equation.  Knotted at 20-20 in the hot room, in Fine Arts, Luke came through big time with Currier & Ives identifying a popular lithographer and Goessel pulled through 30-20.   3-1

5^th Round   Auditorium        LeRoy-Southern Coffey County       Lyon County League

Tension rose as this session transpired.    A full 11 questions were left on the table as neither team could get traction.   “The Library is not Far Away” was the World Language question and was the only score 10-0 from Zach through 7 questions.   Luke buzzed in for Bay of Pigs for the 1961 invasion and also got the Miranda decision in 1966 to leave it at 30-0 but that was all either team could muster until the 2^nd Fine Arts question.   Alicen nailed the song sung by the Phantom,  Music of the Night, to leave it at 40-0 before year in review.     Another personality spectators expected to hear about was the female fighter Rowny and SCC was able to buzz in before the Blue on that one to close 40-10.     4-1

After the pool play rounds, the top three from each pool move on to the Championship Round.  Satanta (4-1), Goessel (4-1) and Hanover (3-2) all moved into the finale from Pool A.   Immaculata (4-1), Frankfurt (3-2) and Linn (3-2) moved on from Pool B.  Hodgeman also had a 3-2 record but lost in head to head competition to Frankfurt.

Championship Group Round Robin

1^st Round  Frankfurt    Music Room           Twin Valley League

Zach answered correctly in World Languages to start and lead 10-0.  15 infinitely long minutes later, the score still stood at 10-0.  Three poets went wanting, all the science and health, all the social science.    Jordan answered Trickle Down but it was Trickle Down Economics.   Zach answered “3 to infinity” but the correct answer was x > 3.   Each team took a crack at the correct philosopher who said “To Sing Well is to Dance Well” but no one got Plato.   Neither team got the acoustical guitar string sequence nor could anyone answer what group of women had accomplished in the military that had never happened before (Ranger school).   Goessel went from start to finish at 10-0 for the only shutout of the day and the W.   This round shouted “the bar is too high on the questions this year.”   1-0

2^nd Round  Satanta    Auditorium          SPIAA League

This round was a must win in order to have a shot at repeating as state champions.   Satanta got the World Language question, but captain Wiens challenged the tense and a review process ensued.  Ironically, the phrase was not “The Library is Not Far Away” this time as a judge went to the experts at the nearby Library for adjudication.   The challenge was upheld, the points were erased, and Goessel got a replacement question to go up 10-0.  Sensational  Adan from Satanta aced three straight literature questions, but Satanta was penalized for an incorrect answer on the Mars liquid water interruption.  Goessel could not find traction in Science or Math and Satanta got Mt. Rainier as the “extinct” volcano most likely to catastrophically erupt.   Now in Fine Arts and needing something, Zach pulled out “Ode to Joy” for Beethoven’s 9^th (20-35), but Satanta got Haj for pilgrimage to Mecca to close this important round 20-45.  1-1

3^rd Round   Hanover     Auditorium           Twin Valley League

After soundly defeating the Hanover team the first round in pool play, there was hope here.  The Twin Valley representatives were in great form this time, though, accelerating through the round.  Magical Realism was good for the 0-10 lead.   Zach got the Koran for Heart of Mohammed, but Hanover went on a tear with terminal velocity and Halley’s comet before Alicen came back with the Art of War as the 2500 year old manuscript.   Hanover’s Zarybnicky came through with two big math questions and Goessel could not salvage anything in Fine Arts / Year in Review and this one slipped away 20-50.  1-2

4^th Round  Linn    Auditorium             Twin Valley League

In order to be on the podium, this round was do or die.  Jordan notched the World Language response, then Alicen stepped up with two authors correct.  Zach got the correct velocity and Jordan nailed Parliamentary Government Coalition to go up 50-10.   Hitting on all cylinders now, Goessel’s Wiens correctly answered two math questions, one the weighted average of three integers = 83 within what seems like incredibly short timespans to many spectators.  In Fine Arts, the only instrument in the woodwind ensemble that isn’t a woodwind is ….. French Horn.  Jordan came through with the answer to Know Before you fly.   The 90-20 score was one of the highest points earned totals in the tournament.   2-2

5^th Round    Immaculata     Science Room        Northeast Kansas League

Goessel’s fans filled up the spectator seats in hopes that Grandma Moses would again reach out to the Blue.  With a 3-2 result, the likelihood of being in the top 3 was quite high. Jordan got the world language question about homework.  Hopes dimmed, though, as the NE Kansans ran it to 10-40 in Science.   In Social Science, Goessel stumbled with an incorrect answer on an interruption and the score moved to 5-40.  Moving on with things looking glum, Goessel could not get the judges to accept “Tinker” for the Supreme Court case.   In Math, Zach zinged question #1, then pondered the question about juggling eggs.  After a pause, the Senior buzzed in with 16 23 40 and 64 and was awarded a “ding” which put it at 25-40.  Immaculata buzzed on the next math question, got it wrong, and Zach gave the correct answer to make this one look possible at 35-40!  The question emerged and sounded like “Wicked.”  Immaculata reached their buzzer first and put the 10 on the board to go up 35-50 and left hapless fans nearly elevated off their seats with “oh that could have been it.”  Alicen added fuel to the possible 2^nd comeback attempt with a successful answer in Fine Arts (45-50) and we were down to Year in Review for all the marbles.    If Goessel gets this one, the Blue wins, goes 3-2 and likely is in 3^rd place.  If not, 2-3 and a 4^th place finish.    The question, What company  did Aetna buy in 2015?....... after a moment, Goessel was first to buzz in and answered CVS Pharmacy.   With a regretful pause, the moderator indicated “No I am sorry that is not correct.”  The correct answer, Humana, would have set off a huge celebration in the west annex.  2-3

Teams were assembled in the auditorium once more and Tournament Director Lightner indicated that Frankfurt emerged in 6^th place, Linn in 5^th place, Goessel had earned 4^th place, Hanover 3^rd, Satanta 2^nd, and this year’s 1A Div I State Champion is:  Leavenworth-Immaculata.   

KSHSAA Scholars Bowl representative David Cherry was at Goessel briefly as the tournament concluded to bid his best wishes to all.    During the day he attempts to make it to as many sites as he can.

For a wonderful period of time, Goessel has had its name in two places on the KSHSAA website:  1A Div I  Scholars Bowl and Volleyball.   What a ride!    Goessel’s Alicen Meysing may have a unique place in Goessel team history, as she was a participant on two different state championship teams in two different areas during her career at Goessel, playing on both the state championship 2015 volleyball team as well as participating on the 2015 state championship Scholars Bowl team.

Satanta was Class IA Div I champion in 2013 and 2014, runner up in 2015 and 2016.

Leavenworth-Immaculata was Class 2A champion in 2013, 2014, 2005, and 2004.

Several new “faces” were seen at the state event this year.

9 of the 12 teams were from leagues where there were multiple representatives at state this year:

Twin Valley League         3

Wheat State League       2

SPIAA League                    2

Lyon County League       2

Best wishes Bluebirds in future years!  

May Grandma Moses keep guiding all who commit to participating.