In a quiet classroom where the only sound is the competitive clicking of buzzers, the Manhattan High School Varsity Scholars Bowl team is proving that their competitions are as high-stakes as any Friday night football game. The MHS Scholars Bowl team is currently navigating an end-of-season schedule, improving their knowledge before regionals.

The Indians have built a reputation over the last few years for their speed and depth in answering questions, one of the biggest reasons why the Indians won the 6A KSHSAA Dtate championship last year.

“We put a lot of pressure on teams to answer fast, because if we know it, we’re going to go early,” head coach Ted Dawdy said. “It’s nothing to actually coach them to do, it’s just the aggressiveness of them. Actually, practice is sometimes chaotic because we’re so aggressive.”

Manhattan has been having one of its best stretches of the season over the past few weeks. In their last three tournaments, they secured the crown in two of them and got second at Rock Creek on Jan. 11. Their success at Cair Paravel, Rock Creek and Wamego has shown that this year’s Manhattan is capable of achieving what they have in the past.

“I think we’ve improved the way that we discuss answers, we’re able to formulate a team,” sophomore James Marzluf said. “Last year, we lost three very good seniors, but I think we still have the ability to achieve success at state.”

This year, the Indians only have one junior and senior, so it has mainly been the sophomores who have had to carry the load.

“I’m going to leave with some sophomores who haven’t got to those AP classes, there’s a lot of knowledge that they still haven’t been exposed to,” Dawdy said.

The youth of the team can also bring a positive outlook. For the upcoming years, Manhattan will have a staggering amount of freshman and sophomores, which could be something to look forward to. The Junior Varsity team is also having a lot of success, similarly to the Varsity team. On Jan. 21, the JV team took a first place victory at their home meet with ease.

“We sent a J.V. group to Southeast Saline to actually compete in a Varsity tournament of small schools,” Dawdy said. “And that J.V. team actually got second place at Southeast Saline.”

Manhattan will be looking forward to competing in Regionals on Feb. 5. The top four teams in each respective regional will qualify for State. There are four regionals in all of Kansas for the 6A level, meaning that there will be a total of 16 teams in the state tournament.

“We’re getting ready to wrap up the season,” Dawdy said. “I like us, we’re going to be strong and competitive.”