<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=192888919167017&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Thursday, March 28, 2024
March 28, 2024

Linkedin Pinterest

Knowledge is king for team from Camas

High school team takes top spot at state competition

By Dave Kern
Published: March 29, 2010, 12:00am

In dramatic fashion, the Camas High School Knowledge Bowl team took the 3A state championship on Saturday.

Coach Dale Croswell was ecstatic.

In an e-mail, he reported, “This is the first time in 10 years that we have not hosted the state meet at Camas High School. So, it is a bit ironic that we not only qualified two teams to state for the first time ever, but also that one of our teams earned our first state championship in Knowledge Bowl. It was fun to travel with these 11 team members to Hanford High School in Richland.”

Members of the championship team are Ryan Gompertz, Chris Emmet, Chris Grote, Nicholas Lim, and Alec Maier.

The other Camas team finished 11th out of 18 teams. Those team members are Devynne Barret, Jacob Freedman, Connor Sullivan, Keira Alkema, James Marsh and William Sarchet.

There was tension throughout the championship competition, Croswell said.

“At the end of their semifinal oral round, the team was tied with North Thurston, forcing a tiebreaker session. They were still tied at the end of the first tiebreaker set, and the end of the next tiebreaker found the two teams tied even still. However, the Camas team decided to officially challenge one of the questions in which their answer had been ruled incorrect. Their challenge was accepted and their point was granted, which earned them the right to advance to the championship oral round.

“In the championship oral round, three very good teams — Camas, Charles Wright Academy, and Port Angeles — were engaged in a close match. … At question 40 of 50, the teams were tied at 10 points. By question 45, Port Angeles had forged ahead, but the Camas team was able to tie it up with one question remaining. As the last question was read aloud by the reader/judge, a moment came when the teams seemed to recognize the answer all at once, and they buzzed in. The Camas team got in first, discussed it, offered their correct answer, and won the state championship.

It was a rewarding win for the team members and Coach Croswell.

“I have been coaching Knowledge Bowl at Camas since 1986, have been the coordinator for ESD 112 for many of those years, and state coordinator since 1999. This is the first time I can recall that both the 4A state championship (Skyview High School) and the 3A state championship (Camas) were earned by teams from Clark County in the same year. That is fantastic, and speaks to the strength of the schools and knowledge bowl teams in our area.”

Loading...