Photo by April Wahlstrom The Junior Varsity (9 & 10th grade) Knowledge Bowl team took first place at their first Knowledge Bowl competition of the year. Celebrating their win over 21 other schools is (L-R) Audrey Summers, Sarah Larson, Jordyn Kirk, Mara MacDonell, Kieran Scannell, and Ben Seaton.
Once again Cook County scholars have represented our local school well—Cook County Middle School and Junior Varsity students have been beating the buzzer and coming up with tough answers at Knowledge Bowl competitions at Mountain Iron.
On Tuesday, October 5, the Middle School Team—Lars Scannell, Sean MacDonell, Will Seaton, Libby Zafft, Danielle Hansen and Daniel Ahrendt— came in first place in their first meet of the season.
Only six team members can go to a competition, so Grace Aldrighetti and Richie Furlong are ready to go as alternates if someone can’t go. They all practice together, using the Jeopardy! –
like buzzer strips purchased by the Grand Marais PTA to help with training.
Middle School Knowledge Bowl Coach Dorie Carlson was thrilled at her students’ performance. “They are going up against 22 other teams in the district— against much larger schools like Virginia, Hibbing and Cloquet, who all bring multiple teams. These bigger schools have meets on their own against each other all year round, so our little school doing this well is incredible. Our kids did fantastic!”
Staff photo/ Rhonda Silence The Middle School Knowledge Bowl team has had a first and second place finish in their two competitions this year. The team members are (L-R, front) Libby Zafft, Danielle Hansen. (L-R, back) Daniel Ahrendt, Will Seaton, Lars Scannell, Sean MacDonell.
The team traveled to Mountain Iron again on October 19 for a really tough competition. Carlson said the students started out slowly and at one time were in sixth place. “They were really disappointed,” said Carlson. “But they fought their way back and finished in second place. It was very impressive!”
The Middle School team has another meet on Election Day, November 2 and if they finish with enough points, which Carlson said is very likely, they will advance to the regional tournament on November 17.
The Junior Varsity team did equally well, coming in first place in their first meet on Tuesday, October 12. The JV team is Kieran Scannell, Mara MacDonell, Ben Seaton, Sarah Larsen, Jordyn Kirk, Audrey Summers, Bjorn Johnson and Megan Lehto. They are coached by April Wahlstrom.
Coach Wahlstrom said the JV team performed extremely well, winning by 7 points, beating out 21 other teams. Their next competition is October 26.
Good luck, Knowledge Bowl stars!
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