The Fair Grove Scholar Bowl team had their first tournament, on October 7 at Parkway West High School, placing third with Charlie Harp and Aidyn Owings placing high individual ranking.
Michelle Wahlquist, the scholar bowl coach and an English teacher at Fair Grove High School, said, “It was nice to get the first varsity tournament in St. Louis done. We were anxious to see how the off-season work paid off and we finished in a great spot.”
Wahlquist furthermore added, “Scholar Bowl is actually so much fun at the tournaments. I think my players look forward to most of them. We have been lucky to participate in great tournaments at Columbia College, Houston, Clever, St. Louis, and of course the Small School Showcase in Glasgow, Kentucky, which we have been invited to again.”
Charlie Harp (12), the varsity captain of the scholar bowl team stated, “I believe that in the future we could use a little more work in the teamwork department. We won seven of our nine games with two losses coming to a couple of the best teams in the state.”
Harp commented, “I am particularly looking forward to the Glasgow Invitational Tournament in Kentucky. We went last year and won, this year we hope to get a repeat performance.”
While the team as a whole has many goals, Harp has one goal in mind that affects the team as well as himself. Harp explained, “My goal by the end of the year is to be able to consistently average 90-100 points per game, this mostly impacts myself but it also affects the teams ability to win as it would get us more points.”
Another member of the team, Nathaneal Waggoner (12), explained, “I’m quite excited for our Jesse Brown tournament which is held in Kentucky as it’s good to see a lot of people who don’t live in Missouri. For me, I think it’s a great showing of how wholesome the quizbowl culture really is. I’m also excited for Nationals.”
Sam Lafreniere (10) is a player on the Novice team and stated that she is excited for the tournament that is held sometime in January. This will be Lafreniere’s first tournament on the high school novice team.
With a determined season ahead of them Wahlquist said, “The season will be determined by the amount of preparation that goes into it. We graduated some outstanding players, but I told this year’s team we aren’t done yet; and I believe it.”
The next scholar bowl tournament will be held this Saturday, November 11th, at Clever.
