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GMS academic teams rate great at state
Not to be outdone by their high school counterparts who have four teams headed for state championship competition this Saturday, Greencastle Middle School put four of its five academic teams squads in the top 10 of Junior Division competition in the 2018 Indiana Academic Super Bowl.
"We missed by one of having all our teams in the top 10," coach Stacie Stoffregen said Thursday after results of the recent area competition at Sarah Scott Middle School in Terre Haute were converted into the state rankings.
Unlike the Senior Division of the Academic Super Bowl, where GHS is headed Saturday, the Junior Division does not have a second level of competition. Scores posted at area sites are compared and ranked to determine state winners.
The GMS Math Team, coached by Jane Roberson, emerged as state runner-up with a GMS best-ever 24 of 25 questions correct. Meanwhile, the school's Interdisciplinary Team, coached by Stoffregen, Roberson, Courtney Smith and Cassidy Holt, captured third place in the state with 16 right answers.
"Our Math Team missed only one question; that's the best we've ever done," Stoffregen praised of the group that finished second to the perfect score of 25 posted by Bremen.
The state runner-up Math Team is composed of Casey Crary, Stephen Dombrowski, Hunter Miller, Mason Howard, Maieasha Rashid, Ben Huff, Jacob Carter, Vincent Martoglio, Blake Pingleton, Sam White and Isaac Hertenstein.
Competing for the GMS Interdisciplinary Team were Iris Mackenzie, Casey Crary, Maieasha Rashid, Hunter Miller, Connor Barcus, Kadence Shaner and Stephen Dombrowski.
Teams in the top three of the state receive plaques and individual medals, while schools finishing in the 4-10 spots earn a team certificate.
The best showing by any other Putnam County teams was North Putnam's Interdisciplinary Team, which was ninth overall with 15 correct answers. North Putnam also was 11th overall in math scores.
Greencastle's English Team, coached by Holt, finished fourth overall. With 15 correct responses, GMS was just a point shy of the three-way tie for first among South Knox (winner in a tie-breaker), Union Township and Monroe Central.
The GMS Science Team was eighth overall (a virtual tie for sixth without factoring in tie-breakers), producing 21 correct answers to finish just one behind second-place Whitko and third-place Indian Creek with 22. Stoffregen coaches the GMS Science Team.
South Knox, with 24, captured the science title as the only school with two Junior Division championships and the only competitor with overall bragging rights over the five-team success of GMS.
The GMS Social Studies Team was 11th overall with 18 right answers posted by the Courtney Smith-coached unit.
Members of the GMS English Team are Hunter Miller, Iris Mackenzie, Bijou Champagne, Alice Howard, Connor Barcus and Amanda Cady.
The GMS Science Team is composed of Iris Mackenzie, Vincent Martoglio, Hyrum Hale, Simon Lausee, Isaac Hertenstein, Ben Huff, Evan Lazar, Joseph Hale and Macauyla.
Those on the GMS Social Studies Team are Connor Barcus, Casey Crary, Maiesha Rashid, Simon Lausee, Stephen Dombrowski, Jacob Carter, Kadence Shaner, Rain Minartz, Josh Laing, Charlie Menzel, Andrew Thede and Derek Taylor.
North Putnam students on its ninth-place Interdisciplinary team were Shelby Hilton, Madelynn Burgess-Egolf, Abby Gaddis, Eli Porter and Sophia Lotzow.
Math team member for North Putnam was Sophia Lotzow and another student, Molly Springmeyer, "sat with her but was only there for moral support so Lotzow didn't have to sit alone," North Putnam Middle School coach Randall Funk said.
In the Senior Division of the competition, which will be staged Saturday on the Purdue University campus, Greencastle High School will be looking for its sixth consecutive English Team title. The GHS Interdisciplinary, Math and Science teams are also competing in the state finals.