The Fair Grove Scholar Bowl team advanced to the state championship, with a win over the teams Mountain Grove, Houston, and Central. They compete at state May 4th in Colombia.
According to Michelle Wahlquist, the scholar bowl coach, Charlie Harp (12) is one of the team’s highest scores, and played a significant role in the team’s success.. Harp said, “I personally have placed individually at every single tournament I have been to… The team has placed in the top ten at every single tournament this year and we have accumulated a record of 93-26.”
Wahlquist has been the team’s coach since 2012, she says, “We wanted to return after winning state and the Small School National Title last year to show that we weren’t done yet… This year‘s varsity team moved up from a supporting role from last year to this year as lead players.”
With the absence of their star player Wahlquist mentioned, “Charlie Harp (12) took over the role of captain and placed in the top ten individuals in every tournament, Aidyn Owings (10) expanded his areas of expertise and really became a top scorer.” She continued, “Nate Waggoner (12) grew his scholar bowl game and covers the world history and geography categories, among others. Aiden Cooper played for much of the season and specialized in American History.”
According to Harp, he set high goals for his team and wanted to score over 63 points per game. He said, “Before the season started my personal goal was to make it back to the State Nationals, achieve 100 wins as a team… Three of those [goals] four have been ticked off and the team is just 7 wins away from the 100 mark.”
Wahlqust talked about the team after sectionals, “On Tuesday, April 23, we beat the winners of District One, the Rebels of Central at Park Hills. It was the best two out of three quarterfinals and we won both games to advance to state… The top two teams will play for first and the other two will play for third.”
Scholar bowl takes time and effort from the students, according to Wahlquist, “We practice on packets of questions, but the students study on their own time and practice on some websites, including QBReader. They also use a variety of other media to study areas of interest.”
The Fair Grove Scholar Bowl team competes on May 4th for another state title. Wahlquist believes they have a good chance of not only winning the state but proving that they were not a one-and-done team.
