The De Soto High School Scholars Bowl team competed in the 5A Regional competition at St. James Academy on Feb. 1. The team received a runner-up plaque for placing second at the tournament.

“Regionals went exceptionally well,” said Scholars Bowl coach Phillip Hamilton. “Our scoring average was very highーour highest score average in the last six yearsーwhich bodes well because six years ago we won the State title. One question of one round was our only loss, and that was a round that could have gone either way. It seemed clear that we got the most points in the tournament. Once in a while you’re going to slip up on a round, and it happened to be a round that really mattered to us, but I think we’re going to have a great opportunity to do well at State and hopefully finish off our season strong.”

Prior to the competition, the Regionals team had a four-meet first place streak at the following meets: Frontier League at Baldwin High School on Jan. 8, the Baldwin Invitational on Jan. 24, the Maur-Hill Mount Academy invitational on Jan. 25 and the Seamen High School invitational on Jan. 31.

“It [the winning streak] has been a long-time in the making,” Hamilton said. “All of those meets that were the lead-up to Regionals went well. We managed a pretty strong record at those. Overall, it showed that we have done our work and that we were ready for Regionals.”

The Regionals team will be competing at State on Feb. 10. The team consists of seniors Cody Moose, Elizabeth Seidl, Abigail Stutzman, Zach Yarbrough and Micah Faulds and junior Cody Murphy.

“This [team] is as strong if not stronger than the last few years at DHS, and even though we got second place, I feel like the team is at a place that it’s at least as strong as last year’s third-place [State] team,” Hamilton said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re going to get third place [at State], but I think that we’re scoring well. I also think that our team gets along very well and that we’ve got a good team bond going, and even though our team members have spent way too much time together this year, it seems to be a good thing for the moment.”

Seidl is excited to compete at State, and she detailed the team’s preparation for the tournament.

“We’re dividing up which things we are still unsure about,” Seidl said. “We’re dividing up what things we still need to study and which things we’re still unsure of so that we can really come in feeling confident and do what we do best.”

In addition to qualifying for State, De Soto is hosting the Scholars Bowl State tournament this Saturday.

“Hosting State is always super prestigious and a great time to represent our school, whether we’re competing or not,” Hamilton said. “I feel very confident that we’re going to have awesome moderators and judges and have our students represent us well. Our Scholars Bowl program as a whole is super healthy and being asked to host State is a reflection of how good our program is doing.”

The experience of competing at State at De Soto may be a little strange, according to Seidl, but it may have some benefits for the team.

“It’s kind of unusual [that we’re hosting State], for sure,” Seidl said. “Hopefully it gives us somewhat of a home court advantage just because we’ll know the moderators and feel comfortable in the rooms we’re in and not have to worry about finding anything or be stressed with anything.”

Students and faculty are encouraged to come and support the team, and finals will be held in the Black Box for people who want to watch, according to Hamilton. Anyone interested in spectating should contact Hamilton or the tournament organizer, Donna Rhodes, for details about Saturday and watching the team perform.