Hiland quiz team enjoys new format at Tri-County ESC Academic Challenge
By Dave Mast
February 27, 2017
636
While Hiland High Schools Academic Challenge team may be small in numbers, it makes up for it with some major talent. That talent was on display during the annual Tri-County Education Service Centers Academic Challenge, which took place in early February.
Facing some of the best teams from areas in Holmes, Wayne and Ashland counties, Hilands mental whiz kids took home the top prize as they battled through a series of competitions throughout the day.
Hiland won the honor of having its name on the first Tri-County ESC Academic Challenge Tournament Sweepstakes trophy for having the most combined matches won between the varsity and junior varsity contests.
Hiland scored 13 out of 15, and Black River was right behind, sporting a 12. Black River took home first place at the varsity level while Hiland placed second and Orrville third.
Hiland dropped a one-point loss early in the varsity tournament and then went on a winning streak to reach the finals while Black River cruised into the finals undefeated.
Even though we had a loss, we knew if we beat Black River in the finals, we would win because we would have beaten them head-to-head, said Don Blanchard, Hilands advisor.
That was not what panned out as Black River took control in the finals and cruised to the varsity championship.
Black River has an incredible program year after year, and they beat us pretty good, Blanchard said. Their team captain is really talented.
However, the junior varsity team was busy doing its thing and crushed its way to victory in the finals over Hillsdale. Black River inched into the bronze-medal standing.
Unlike prior years at the Tri-County ESC event, the junior varsity finish took on a whole new meaning.
With Lisa Lang taking over as the director of the tournament, she changed the format a bit to not only crown the varsity champion, but also to include an overall competition winner, that being the combination of both groups.
Hiland did a phenomenal job, Lang said.
What made the achievement even more impressive is the number of players on each Hiland team.
At these academic challenges each school may sport four individuals per team, but due to prior commitments from some of its members, Hiland had just two of its seven members on the varsity and two of them on the junior varsity team.
Ben Beachy captained the varsity team with Aleah Schock while Isaac Hershberger and Joel Kornhaus made up the junior varsity team
It was a combination that almost didnt happen.
I was planning on just having the four of them compete at the varsity level, and we werent going to have a JV team until I found out about the way the new format was set up, Blanchard said. So we split them up into two. Technically a team can compete with just one player, but obviously the more players a team has, the better its chances. I think if we had a full complement of players, we could have won the varsity tournament.
Earlier this season the Hiland team traveled to Ashland to compete in the Mohican Academic Challenge and left there with a championship. They also competed at the Cloverleaf tournament, where they finished in the middle of the pack.
Hiland has now qualified for the district portion of the National Academic Quiz Team tournament and is still seeking to qualify for the Ohio Academic Competition regional. Last year the school qualified for both for the first time, and Blanchard said the team is excited about continuing that trend.
We have three or four more opportunities to accomplish that, and I feel confident that these kids will get it done, Blanchard said. That means a lot to all of them. It is a big deal.
The OAC features competition in Ohio for small-school and large-school divisions while the NAQT puts all teams together for its competition.
Blanchard was proud of both of his teams accomplishments at the Tri-County ESC event and said it makes all of the hard work his students put in that much more worth it.
These kids work hard and put a lot of time into this, Blanchard said. It is a very talented group of students. Having won the Tri-County competition for the first time in this format is an honor.
Hiland High School Academic Challenge quiz team members include Beachy, Schrock, Hershberger, Kornhaus, Matt Troyer, Pat Miller and Clay Beechy.
