All year Manhattan High Scholars Bowl has been working hard and has been striving for a win and has succeeded finishing in the top three each time. They continued their season Monday at a home meet at Flint Hills Christian School. The team went 9-2, getting first, once again. The regular Varsity team was not in attendance because they are preparing for bigger tournaments, so freshman Alice Le, sophomores Brian Dudley, Styopa Zharkov, Roman Talbot, and senior Michael Kovar competed.

“None of my regular Varsity players were there,” coach Ted Dawdy said. “So those underclassmen and Michael did a great job.”

The loss of regular players did not stop the normal great finish. In pool play, Scholars Bowl went 5-1, losing to FHCS. Then went on to the championship pool, the tournament took the top three teams from Pool A and Pool B, which is not a normal thing to happen. They competed against Junction City, Council Grove, Seaman, FHCS and Cair Paravel High School. “I decided to just trust in my teammates,” senior Kovar said, “and they pulled through, like always, to win us the round.”

Scholars Bowl just recently competed on Thursday and got second at Centennial League, with Seaman High School getting first and Washburn Rural High School falling at third place.

At Seaman High School, each school in the league played 10 matches. MHS, Seaman and Washburn Rural all tied with 8-2 record for the day. Manhattan had lost to Shawnee Heights  High School 30-60 and lost to Washburn Rural by 10. The three schools were sent into head-to-head matches.

Due to Seaman beating Washburn by 30 points, which was the most points a team won by in that tournament, in the head-to-head tiebreakers, they got first. The final round for Manhattan was against Washburn Rural and winning that round would have meant winning league.

“There were several questions that we definitely knew and could have answered,” senior Stephanie Fu said. “But we were all so nervous and didn’t do as well as we could have.”

The match was tied when it came down to the last question. One question paired with its answer was the deciding factor on who won league. It didn’t fall in Manhattan’s hands unfortunately.

“I think [the question] was about James Comey, but Washburn answered it and we lost the match by one question,” sophomore Josh Brandt said.

They will further their season at regionals in Wichita on Thursday.  Along with their season continuing, the intensity does to. That doesn’t stop the team though.

“It’s all about towering above the tension,” Brandt said. “And providing all you can for your team.”