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Five local teams set for Academic Super Bowl state finals
With “The Age of Exploration” as their annual theme, five local teams will take their explorations to Purdue University on Saturday for the Academic Super Bowl state finals.
Greencastle High School has four teams gearing up for the finals with its math, science, English and interdisciplinary teams all making the cut in Class 3.
Meanwhile, Cloverdale High School sends its English team to the finals in Class 4.
The four GHS teams will try to continue the school’s run of dominance, having captured a state-record 33 state titles since 1990.
Leading the charge are the English team and science team, both of which come in seeded second in the state in Class 3.
The English team had 24 out of 25 correct answers at the area competition.
“There was never a time they weren’t prepared for practice. It showed when it came to the competition,” coach Amy Thomas said. “And they haven’t let down yet. They’re studying questions to get ready for state.”
Part of that preparation has been for the three team members — Rebecca Hebb, Cam Benedix and Sabina Seaman — to take on the role of teacher/coach and actually lead the discussions of particular texts.
“That prepares you on a whole different level,” Thomas said.
Benedix and Seaman will have their work cut out for them at state, as Hebb, who previously served as captain, has a conflict that won’t allow her to compete. However, the hard work and commitment to the quest has continued.
“I’m dealing with very intelligent people,” Thomas said. “They’re very motivated.”
The GHS science team is not only the No. 2 seed with 22 of 25 correct answers, but also the two-time defending state champion, having won eight state titles overall.
Coach Brad Kingma returns just one member of the 2022 title winners in senior Blake Pingleton, but the commitment to excellence has continued with the addition of team members Gavin Pingleton (Blake’s twin brother), Ty Ishikawa and Brooks Baker-Watson.
“We pretty much followed the same schedule,” the veteran science coach said. “It felt like we were always behind, and then the last week we got down to it and it worked out well.”
Kingma, who allowed that this competition is always challenging, nonetheless has his team focused on shoring up any areas of weakness.
“There are going to be some difficult questions, and you’re going to miss some,” Kingma said. “But we missed one we could have gotten and we’re working on that.”
Blake Pingleton, who serves as captain, has a fairly laid-back approach when it comes to the pressure of the state finals.
“It’s a little nerve-wracking going up there, but you just get it done,” he said.
Math coach Gayle Hansen also sees room for improvement from her third-seeded group, which had 18 out of 25 correct answers. She also sees the motivation from team members Ishikawa (captain), Alice Howard, Mylea Mangus, Tobey Benedix and Cam Benedix.
“The math team was upset we missed a couple we shouldn’t have,” Hansen said, “so they’re looking to redeem themselves at state.”
Hansen also noted that math was a bit different this year, in that the team had to read a book for the first time ever — “Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time” by Dava Sobel.
Team members also had to study spherical trigonometry, which was essential to navigation, and learn skills no longer taught in the digital age.
“We were actually using a textbook from the 1950s,” Hansen said. “They got to see examples of the logarithms worked out. It was eye opening how much work they had to do.”
At the core of it, though, both Hansen and Kingma said their teams had come together well.
“I have good team chemistry,” Hansen said. “They get along well.”
“It’s been really good,” Kingma added.
The interdisciplinary team — in which GHS has won 10 of its state titles — presents a new kind of challenge this year in that it did not compete at area, but instead was scored based on the combined scores of the five disciplines — English, math, science, social studies and fine arts.
“We haven’t competed yet, so that is a difficult dynamic, trying to put the team together in two weeks and find time to meet,” Kingma said.
However, the team members Howard (captain), Seaman, Riley Wood, Ishikawa, Cam Benedix and Baker-Watson are all familiar with each other through both academic teams and school in general.
“Even though interdisciplinary hasn’t practiced a lot, those kids know each other well,” Hansen said. “That’s an advantage small schools have over big schools.”
While not coming in with the pedigree of the GHS program, Cloverdale is sending a team to state for the second straight year after the fine arts team advanced last year.
The CHS English team of Jaidyn Helton, Phoenix Breedlove, Sierra Kelley and Kayley Winkles had a 22 at the area competition, good enough for fifth best in Class 4.
“I could tell the girls were going to do well when we did our mock competition because they only missed two,” coach Maria Skiles said. “I wasn’t sure how we would do against teams across the state. I wasn’t necessarily sure we would make it to state, but I was really proud of the girls for all the effort they have put in.
“Once we found out that we qualified, we’ve been trying to put a strategy in place to try to eliminate the wrong answers we did have,” Skiles added. “We’re putting a strategy together where each one of the team members is going to concentrate on one of the materials and really go back and re-read each of those.”
The team members have been enjoying their accomplishment and looking forward to what comes next.
“They were very excited once we found out — they were checking the scores all day,” Skiles said. “Several of them have been on a team before but they had not made state, so they were really excited to move on to state.”