The Scholars Bowl team ended this year’s season by taking second place at Washburn Rural on Feb. 11.

“I thought the team did okay,” Coach Ted Dawdy said. “If anything we could’ve been faster at answering the questions.”.

The team consisted of seniors Julius Neumann, Thom Loub, Vinny Sun; junior Eli Kunz; and sophomores Johnny Bachmierer and Patrick Fu.

The squad busted through the tournament, going 7-0 by the time the finals had rolled around. Notable wins include Wichita East, who have gone to Scholars Bowl finals 24 out of the 37 years it has been around, and close competitors Washburn Rural.

“Winning has been my favorite part of this season,” sophomore Johnny Bachmierer said. “It feels so good, especially after all the studying we do.”.

For the finals, the team faced off against last year’s winner, Blue Valley North. Previous matches against Blue Valley North have been tough and this time was no different. Though close, Manhattan ended up losing, 60-90. That left BVN as first place and MHS second. Wichita East was close behind at third place.

“This year has been kind of difficult as we’re still trying to recover from COVID,” senior Vinny Sun said. “Besides that, I think we did good.”

If anything is to be taken out of this season, it’s that perseverance pays off.

“There were a lot of club conflicts that interfered with competition,” Dawdy said. “Yet, the work that we were able to do helped prepare us for the best.”

The team hopes to qualify for state next year in order to make it the 17th time in school history and the 10th consecutive trip to state.