LHS students strong at Academic Challenge

The Lovell High School Wyoming Academic Challenge (WAC) team competed in two meets this past week.

On Wednesday, Dec. 3, the Bulldogs traveled to the Big Horn Basin Knowledge Bowl, which included only teams from within the basin. Coach Bret George took Porter Blau, Nathan Cornia, Cutler Wilkerson, Michael Cornia, Weston Hendershot and Dean Anderson to represent Lovell. A traveling trophy is awarded annually at this event, which Lovell has held for four consecutive years. This year, however, the Powell Panthers placed first and took over the trophy. The Bulldogs finished fourth overall.

On Saturday, Lovell traveled to Thermopolis to compete in a state tournament. The team included brothers Nathan and Michael Cornia, Issac and Porter Blau and Wilson Hendershot. Because only four students are allowed to compete at a time, Issac and Michael rotated rounds throughout the competition as alternates. Lovell finished fourth overall at the tournament.

At both meets, the Bulldogs competed using the “Straight Toss-Up” format, which consists of five rounds with 60 questions each. Teams earn one point for every correct answer. The first, second, fourth and fifth rounds are oral rounds, during which teams buzz in to answer questions. The third round is a written round where team members work together to answer all 60 questions. Coach George said this was the team’s strongest round, as they answered 40 of the 60 questions correctly. The maximum possible score at the tournament was 300 points. The winning team finished with 120 points, while Lovell earned a total of 104 points.

Nathan Cornia served as team captain at both meets, and George said, “Nate was by far the strongest player.” While he was not allowed to consult with teammates after buzzing in, Nathan was responsible for taking the lead and assigning which teammate would answer each question.

The Bulldogs’ next WAC meet will take place on January 10 in Powell at Northwest College.