Certain points of a senior year have a way of standing out more than others.
 
Such was the case last week for Moundridge’s Joe Westerman.
 
First came a scholarship interview with the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Dahlgren Division based in Virginia. Then on Friday evening, Westerman was notified by Wichita State University that he was the recipient of a full-ride engineering scholarship.
 
Finally on Saturday, Westerman, the lone senior on the Wildcats’ state scholars bowl team, helped Moundridge win the Class 2A championship in its own building. The Wildcats won all 10 of their matches – the first five in pool play, the second five in the round-robin championship pool – to claim their second state title in program history.
 
“It’s kind of surreal,” said Westerman, who was part of a state runner-up team as a sophomore and third-place finisher a year ago. “I’ve had a week to comprehend.”
 
While Westerman labeled himself the “proud parent” of the team as its elder, the Wildcats returned four of the six participants from last year’s state team. Junior Lela Winsor, a fellow member of the 2023 runner-up team, junior Ella Schrag and sophomores Gentry Regier, Joshua Seeger and Ana Beasley teamed with Westerman to bring Moundridge its first 2A title since 2017.
 

With several schoolmates, parents and friends following them from classroom to classroom to witness their matches, the Wildcats delivered in a big way, unseating three-time defending champion Sacred Heart, which finished second.
 
“They performed as well as they have all season,” Moundridge coach Adam Robb said. “We go through our season and practice for our postseason competition, and sometimes that doesn’t always translate during the regular season. Today, it translated well.”
 
Moundridge, which finished second to Wichita Central Christian in the Ellinwood regional, opened the tournament by winning its five pool matches by an average of 41 points. The Wildcats’ run through the pool included an 80-50 victory over Sacred Heart.
 
The championship pool was much more competitive. Moundridge’s five victories included a 40-30 win over third-place finisher TMP-Marian and a victory by the same score over St. Mary’s-Colgan on a tiebreaker math question that Winsor correctly answered.
 
“Lela is absolutely amazing on math questions,” Westerman said. “I try to help her out by keeping time, writing out things that the answer needs. It’s definitely a team effort.
 
“Earlier on, we had a round where it came down to a social studies tiebreaker. It was an interruption and I ended up getting it right. Depending on how things played out, those could have been the difference between first and second or first and third. It’s amazing to have a team that holds up in so many different conditions.”
 
Moundridge topped Sacred Heart for a second time in the championship round, winning 60-20. That was the lone loss for the Knights in the round-robin finals. TMP-Marian went 3-2 to finish third and Maranatha Academy was 2-3, taking fourth.
 
“We had our weaknesses but our weaknesses were pretty well covered,” Westerman said. “We have a pretty amazing team. I’m really proud to call them mine.”
 

PIECES FIT AS MANHATTAN RETURNS TO TOP OF CLASS 6A
 
Even though his roster didn’t significantly change from a year ago, Manhattan scholars bowl coach Ted Dawdy admitted that the team he took into the postseason this year carried plenty of unknowns with it.
 
“This team was a little bit of a puzzle,” Dawdy said. “I didn’t feel like I was adding a ton and the players didn’t change much. The senior that rolled off the team, I didn’t feel like I was replacing him at all.”
 
But between weather cancellations of a handful of meets and bouts of illness throughout the season, Manhattan’s postseason lineup had only competed in three tournaments together this season. At the Centennial League meet, the Indians were missing two of its three seniors – Jonathan Bachmeier and Advith Natarajan, who were sick.
 
“I didn’t know what I had,” Dawdy said. “Basically the first time I saw them in super-competitive action was at regionals.”
 
Even though Manhattan didn’t win its regional, going 4-1 to finish second to unbeaten Wichita Northwest, Dawdy saw enough from his team’s performance to convince him he had a state championship contender on his hands. At Saturday’s Class 6A state meet, which Manhattan hosted, the Indians delivered on that belief.
 
Manhattan qualified third out of pool play, but came alive in the semifinals and finals. The Indians avenged a pool play loss to Wichita Northwest with a 50-40 win in the semifinals and then dominated the championship clash with Mill Valley, taking a 110-40 victory for the fifth state championship in program history and first since 2020.
 
“This is my 27th year doing Scholars Bowl and 25th at Manhattan and when I saw them at regionals, I liked our chances,” Dawdy said.
 
He should know. For the bulk of his tenure, Manhattan has been one of the top Scholars Bowl programs in Class 6A. Even though the Indians had only won one state title during his time as head coach, they’d placed in the top four for nine straight years from 2015 to 2023, getting a state title in 2020.
 
But last year, that string of places not only came to an end, but so did the Indians’ run of state appearances as they failed to qualify for state.
 
Instead of blowing things up in terms of his roster, Dawdy stuck in large part with what he had. Seniors Bachmeier, Natarajan and Patrick Fu – the lone holdover from the 2023 state team – were joined by returning junior Daniel Ortiz and returning sophomore Solon Xia. The lone spot needing filled with the loss of one starter to graduation went to freshman Michael Amama, a rarity for a Dawdy team.
 
Though the pieces didn’t get to fit together much during the season, they came together when it mattered most.
 
At state, Manhattan went 5-2 during the preliminary rounds with wins over Mill Valley (80-30), Derby (90-20), Blue Valley (80-50), Washburn Rural (90-40) and Blue Valley North (80-70) and losses to Wichita Northwest (75-50) and Wichita East (75-35).
 
Even though the Indians qualified just third, Dawdy wasn’t moved from his conviction his team could win the state title.
 
“Before the tournament started, I said the only thing we had to do in pool play was get out of pool play,” Dawdy said. “In 2017, we finished second and I didn’t have a very strong team and we somehow managed to tie for the fourth spot and won that tiebreaker and then we got that magical set of questions to win the semifinal and get into the final, even though I really didn’t have the second-best team there. We just survived.
 
“As long as we could get out of pool play, we would be OK and I think they relaxed a little bit knowing they didn’t have to be perfect. Once you get to the top four teams, it’s pretty evenly matched and it just depends on the set of questions. If you get that right set of questions, it will work out and it did.”
 
Manhattan and Wichita Northwest had already gone back and forth a few times this season. At regionals, the Indians faced Northwest and dominated the showdown 90-30. Northwest then came back in the finals, and won the regional title on a tiebreaker.
 
After losing to the Grizzlies in the preliminary round, Manhattan turned the tables with the win in the semifinals to reach the finals. Mill Valley upset No. 1 seed Wichita East 80-55 in the other semifinal, setting up the title match which Manhattan dominated.
 
“I knew we were pretty evenly matched with (Northwest),” Dawdy said. “When you get to the level like that, you get those two teams in the same room, you can battle 10 times and it coiuld be 5-5. It just matters on the set of questions you get.”
 
Given last year’s absence from the state tourney and the relative unknown leading in to this year’s postseason, the title was even sweeter for Dawdy.
 
“This one actually has been super-satisfying,” he said. “In the last 11 years, Manhattan has played in the championship match seven times. This year felt really good because we’ve kept getting there, but haven’t gotten the job done. I was super-happy for this group to cap it off and get the job done. They did an amazing job for not having a ton of state experience.”
 

EXPERIENCE PAYS OFF FOR BISHOP CARROLL WITH CLASS 5A TITLE
 
After making it through a series of pressure-packed matches to return to the Class 5A state scholars bowl final, Bishop Carroll saved its best for last to win its fifth title and first in 11 years.
 
Carroll’s veteran squad of Neil Goebel, Gus Jirak, Alex Nguyen, Teagan Scherer, Laura Tra and Austin Tran put the finishing touch on its championship with a 90-40 victory over Andover Central on Saturday in Hutchinson, avenging one of two pool-play losses earlier in the day. The Golden Eagles’ state title came on the heels of a runner-up finish to rival Kapaun Mt. Carmel in last year’s 5A tournament.
 
Carroll’s title quest was filled with drama after it opened the tournament by splitting its first four matches.
 
“Our all-senior team came through in the clutch, winning their last three matches to make it to the semifinals,” said Carroll coach Mark Berger, who also guided the Eagles to state titles in 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2014. “Then we came back from 15 points with two questions to go to earn a return trip to the finals, where we had probably our best round of the day.”
 
Carroll’s 5-2 pool-play record yielded a spot the semifinals along with St. James Academy, which went 7-0, De Soto (5-2) and Andover Central (4-3). The comeback Berger mentioned occurred in the Eagles’ penultimate match against De Soto. Carroll’s rally produced a 65-60 victory in a rematch of last year's state semifinals.
 
That earned the Eagles a championship matchup with Central, which knocked off St. James 50-45 in the other semifinal. Carroll, which edged the Jaguars by 10 points on its way to the Kapaun regional title, denied Central its third state title in five years by scoring at least 90 points in a match for the fourth time in the tournament.
 
The victory capped a season in which Carroll finished in the top four in all but one tournament. The Eagles captured titles at Wichita Collegiate and St. John in addition to their regional and state championships.

St. James defeated De Soto 70-55 for third place.
 

EUDORA TOPS ROCK CREEK IN BATTLE OF RECENT CHAMPIONS TO WIN 4A
 
They went about it a little differently this year, but it produced the same result as the Eudora Cardinals successfully defended their Class 4A title in the state tournament Saturday at McPherson.
 
The Cardinals avenged a regional loss and a pool-play setback earlier in the day to 2022 and 2023 4A champion Rock Creek to complete their title run. Eudora won the championship match 70-30 after taking down regional champion Winfield 50-10 in the semifinals.
 
Eudora returned half of its state-title winning team from a year ago – seniors Nate van Foeken and Addy Bernard, and junior Eugene White. The trio teamed with senior Ethan Feuerborn and juniors Henry Elmer and Colton Jenkins to collect the first-place trophy after going 4-3 in pool play.
 
“Last year, we had one very strong student on the team who accounted for about 50% of our points and this year’s team was much more spread out,” Eudora coach Jim Barnard said. “Everyone had areas of strengths, and they worked hard the last month of the season studying and practicing for regionals and state.”
 
Barnard spent much of the season experimenting with different lineups. The Cardinals’ state team first played together at the Frontier League tournament, which it won. After failing to make the finals at a second tournament, Eudora earned a chance to defend its title with the runner-up finish to Rock Creek at its home regional.
 
“This exact group of students only competed together at two tournaments prior to regionals, so I think that helps each of them feel the weight of leading the team throughout various tournaments during the season,” Barnard said. “Then when we bring them all together, they are able to handle the pressure of big tournaments better.”
 
The Cardinals got through pool play with victories over Hugoton, Baldwin, Augusta and Buhler. They drew the fourth seed for the four-team championship bracket behind Winfield, which went 6-1, Hugoton (5-2) and Rock Creek, which matched Eudora’s 4-3 record and got the third seed by virtue of its head-to-head victory.
 
Eudora never trailed in its last two matches, pulling away from Rock Creek in the final after taking a 30-20 lead into the math category. The Cardinals proved to be undaunted by their previous losses to the Mustangs.
 
“Those were close matches and we felt we could compete with them,” Barnard said.
 
Winfield rebounded from its semifinal loss to Eudora to defeat Hugoton 55-40 for third place.
 

WICHITA COLLEGIATE CAPS UNBEATEN POSTSEASON WITH 21ST STATE TITLE
 
Collegiate extended its streak of state scholars bowl titles to nine on Saturday, completing an unbeaten run through the postseason with a 75-10 victory over Class 3A state tournament host Southeast of Saline in its final match of championship pool play.
 
The Spartans, undefeated regional champions, matched that feat at state, winning all 10 of their matches by an average score of 87-20.5. Junior Ethan MacKenzie scored 440 points in the tournament to lead Collegiate to its 21^st state championship and eighth in a row in 3A.
 
“What sets this group apart is their capacity to accept coaching and to maintain self-discipline at the playing table,” Collegiate coach Peter DeVries said. “When you get a group that will set aside their egos, accept direction, and try things a new way – well, then you end up with a group that doesn't hit a ceiling, because you can always get a little better.”
 
While MacKenzie led Collegiate in scoring at state for the second straight year, senior captain Hannah Ternes collected her fourth state crown. Fellow senior Shouvik Dev also brought state championship experience, while juniors Cooper Winters, Hayan Raffi and Ajitesh Srivastava filled the voids of three departed seniors from last year’s team.
 
The tradition-rich Spartans collected eight regular-season tournament titles and rode the wave into the Haven regional, where they ran the table in 12 pool-play and championship-round matches.
 
Collegiate followed with a 10-0 record at state, fending off Girard 60-50 in its closest pool-play match. The Spartans also edged Ellsworth 35-30 in the championship pool before facing last year’s runner-up, Southeast of Saline, in the finale after both won their first four matches in the six-team finals.
 
“We were very fortunate that Hannah Ternes was able to get in first on the buzzers and give us those last 10 points to sneak past a well-coached Girard team,” DeVries said. “Going into that last round of the day, it was all still up for grabs. Southeast was coming in with a 4-0 record and a solid win. Add to that the excitement of the host-site crowd and the fact that it was a rematch of last year’s 1 vs. 2. The energy was just on a different level.”
 
Ternes helped Collegiate overcome an early deficit with a successful answer on an interruption. The Spartans were successful on 37 of 43 interruptions for the tournament.
 
“For the last four years, she has modeled coachability and poise,” DeVries said of Ternes. “It’s hard to fully express how thankful I am for Hannah and her teammates.”

 

WICHITA INDEPENDENT SWEEPS WAY TO CLASS 1A DIVISION I CROWN
 
A member of Wichita Independent’s first state scholars bowl championship team in 2006, coach Andrew Maness oversaw a postseason run that would make any Panther alum proud.
 
Independent matched Class 3A champion Wichita Collegiate’s achievement in Class 1A Division I, completing an unbeaten run through the regional and state tournaments to win its first state title since 2017 and eighth in program history. The Panthers won all 10 of their matches in the state tournament at Lincoln.
 
“Our students and recent alumni restored a tremendous scholars bowl program,” Maness said. “They cemented their legacy on Saturday.
 
“The team performed consistently, maintained its composure and stayed positive en route to a perfect 20-0 postseason.”
 
Buoyed by strong competition against larger schools throughout the season, Independent’s team of senior captain Ryan Pollak, senior Lea Sackett, juniors Mikiah Moore, Hadley Morrow and Jack Roe, and freshman Rachel Jantz swept through its six-team preliminary pool, then remained unscathed in a championship pool that included runner-up Centralia, which went 4-1, third-place finisher Osborne (3-2) and fourth-place Ness City (2-3).
 
Independent won its lone meeting with Centralia 45-40, a margin that ultimately produced the state title.
 
“While our scoring average this season was less than previous seasons, this year’s group had a knack for winning close rounds,” Maness said. “While our scheduling approach resulted in some tough losses, our students became battle-tested and were thus prepared for KSHSAA’s rigorous postseason.”

Independent had 27 students participate in 26 tournaments during the season. The Panthers, who won the Moundridge Invitational and Pratt Invitational, won 94% of their matches against teams in Class 2A and the two 1A divisions.

“The students trusted our processes, worked harder than any group in the state, and built a lot of self-confidence along the way,” Maness said.
 

SATANTA RETURNS TO THE TOP AFTER BRIEF HIATUS, WINS CLASS 1A DIVISION II
 
After seeing its run of five consecutive state titles and seven in nine years come to an end in 2021, Satanta added another championship trophy to its collection Saturday, winning the Class 1A Division II scholars bowl tournament hosted by Elyria Christian.
 
The Indians won a three-way scoring margin tiebreaker with runner-up Hutchinson Central Christian and third-place finisher Beloit-St. John’s after each finished 4-1 in the championship pool. Satanta, the Hodgeman County regional champion, advanced to the finals as the Pool B winner with a 5-0 mark.
 
Though Satanta lost to Central Christian 35-20, its 40-5 victory over Beloit-St. John’s tipped the scales in its favor after each of the trio finished 1-1 against the other teams. The Indians’ lineup featured players from each class: senior Marlen Perez Munguia, junior Noe Ramirez, sophomores Edgar Najera and Jalynn Hockett, and freshmen Lauren Dusin and Deacon Hockett.
 
The Indians’ state title came on the heels of a runner-up finish to Bucklin in the Southern Plains-Iroquois tournament. Like state, Satanta lost only one match in regionals, to eventual fourth-place state finisher Hodgeman County.
 
“Satanta’s scholars bowl success is built on dedication, countless hours of practice and study – right down to the 3½ -hour trip to state,” Satanta coach Ryan Burrows said. “We never travel without practice rounds.
 
“My teams are part of a proud tradition with eight state championships across 15 state appearances, and every team member past and present contributes to that legacy.”