Making this their fourth meet for the season, Varsity Scholars Bowl went undefeated, making them place first last Tuesday in Chapman. 

“We were pretty pumped when we heard we went undefeated,” senior Josh Brandt said. “This is the first meet of the season where we went totally undefeated.”

After analyzing the mistakes that were made during last week’s meets, Scholars Bowl managed to utilize their error by practicing and working on what needed to be improved. One of the improvements that was made was better communication when it came to shooting out the answers. Ultimately, it ended up helping the team out, which is evident in their first place finish. 

“Our communication was excellent in the meet,” Brandt said. “I’m proud of the guys. I think we nailed it.”

Aside from their first place finish, Scholars Bowl still feels as though there is room for improvement. 

“We will have to work on confidence. There were questions where Manhattan people knew the answer, but weren’t confident enough to buzz in,” Brandt said. “This wasn’t too big of an issue, but we will definitely need to improve on it before our big competitions come up.”

Going into the meet, many students had mixed feelings. Some were nervous due to this meet being their first, while some were excited because they thrive under pressure. 

“I was actually very nervous because this was my first Varsity meet ever,” sophomore Ronan Tanona said.

Although some students, as well as Tanona, felt nervous prior to the meet, it felt good to know that they managed to perform well enough to place first, undefeated. 

“I was so excited,” Tanona said. “I was definitely proud of my teammates and I’m glad that we could add to the MHS Scholars Bowl team’s successes.”

During the meet, Scholars Bowl realized that their competition wasn’t very intimidating. Many small teams from smaller schools participated in Tuesday’s meet, which further gained confidence in MHS.

“We felt pretty good going into the meet,” Brandt said. “We realized that most of the schools there were smaller school, which definitely helped us.”

Although the teams were small, Flint Hills Christian School surprised MHS by turning out to be their toughest competition.

“Our biggest competition was against FHCS in the semifinals,” Brandt said. “It came down to a tiebreaker question in the end, but we ended up getting the tiebreaker. That match was critical for winning and going undefeated.”

Scholars Bowl faced the competition, such as FHCS by handling their nerves and sticking with their answers. They realized that confidence and going with your first answer is the best way to rack up more points for your team.

“In Scholars Bowl, the best way to handle competition is to get past the nerves and be confident,” Brandt said. “Only then can you truly give what you can for your team.”

In the end, the team was proud of their success. This was the first Scholars Bowl meet that resulted in a first place finish, which has motivated the team to persevere and strive for another win.

“I want to continue our good work, more specifically mine.” Tanona said. “I was proud of how I did.”

The next Scholars Bowl meet will take place at Cair Paravel Latin School today.