Alton High’s Scholar Bowl Team recently put their knowledge to the test at the Illinois High School Scholastic Bowl Coaches’ Association (IHSSBCA) Kickoff Tournament, celebrating victories against both Southwestern White and Green teams, Brown County, Granite City, Mater Dei A, Rushville-Industry and Mascoutah. The team earned their highest achievement of the day against Southwestern, obtaining 470 points overall.
The Scholar Bowl team includes seniors Tucker Gehrig, Madison Jockisch, Owen Robien and Paris Thomas as well as juniors Madison Schrumpf and Jackson Deall.
Gehrig was the top point receiver of the tournament, earning 830 points overall.
“I love scholar bowl because it’s fun to learn about various cultures and history,” Gehrig said. “Being Captain of the Scholar Bowl team, along with it being my fourth consecutive year on the team, has given me great independence, ownership, teamwork skills, leadership and helped me achieve some of the best memories,” he added.
Deall achieved 130 points overall as the second top earner, and Thomas came in third for Alton with 65 points.
“I really like the trivia aspect of it. It’s a good mix of stuff you could know and stuff you would need to practice,” Jockisch said. “I felt really good about the tournament. I think we all did really well as a group and we tied for first which is really good, considering it was the first match of the season.”
The next Scholar Bowl Tournament is tomorrow at Granite City High School from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. In addition to this match, smaller competitions will be held every Thursday for the remainder of the season.
