Scholars Bowl began their new season for the 2019-2020 school year last week by participating in a total of three meets Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.

MHS ended up placing first in their latest meet, making this their first win for this season. 

“We should have a good chance of winning most every tournament we go to provided we have a full team going,” sponsor Ted Dawdy said.

The first meet was a Junior Varsity invite only, in which Manhattan High placed in second with a 10-1 record. Only five students attended the meet, sophomores Ezster Chikan, Luke Liu, Vinny Sun and Grace Higgins and freshman Thom Loub.

The Wednesday meet, which occurred at Washburn Rural High, was the first of many Varsity meets soon to come. 

As a result of MHS winning every round in pool play, they were undefeated and made it onto the championship bracket. The way that the championship bracket was played out was different than usual this year. Unlike past years where the championship bracket was played by placing the top two teams in a bracket, MHS was placed in a pool with three matches. During the championship bracket, MHS lost to Blue Valley North and St. James Academy, but managed to defeat Lawrence. Blue Valley North ended up placing in first, while St. James Academy, MHS and Lawrence tied with 1-2 records in the championship bracket. The tie breaker then put St. James Academy in second, MHS in third and Lawrence in fourth. 

The Washburn Rural meet introduced a few new students to Varsity action in which that meet was their first. 

“We had some kids get exposed to varsity action which is a pretty big step up from J.V.,” Dawdy said.

Those students include senior Ethan Meyer, junior Sam Erker and sophomore Shahzaib Asif. 

The third meet of the week took place in Marysville on Thursday. Dawdy was unable to attend the meet, leaving leaving assistant coach Timothy Ekart in charge of the students during the Marysville meet. It was a Varsity meet in which seniors Owen Stuchwisch, Josh Brandt and Bakthi Nilaweera made their first appearance in a Scholars Bowl meet this season. 

Since the season has just begun, there is definitely room for improvement for the future meets that Scholars Bowl will have.

“We have a lot of experience coming back,” Dawdy said. “We are very math/science/social science heavy, so finding a strong Literature person would be nice.”

Like every year, there are goals that the team would like to accomplish during the season.

“Placing at State like we have for the past five years is the main goal,” Dawdy said. “First has consistently eluded us, so getting that first place finish would be nice. Winning the league tournament would also be a team goal.”

The new season has a lot in store this year. With new players and experienced players, it’s safe to say that Scholars Bowl will have a satisfying season.

“It will be a fun season,” Dawdy said.