Academic Triathlon

contributed photo A team of five eighth graders from Sartell Middle School won second place at the 2016 Minnesota U.S. Academic Triathlon State Tournament, held recently at Cottage Grove Middle School. The team, coached by Nicole Maslowski, consists of (pictured, left to right) members Sam Brandt, Jaden Nguyen, Ayleigh Hammond, Alex Erickson-Murphy and Sarah Ufearo. Maslowski is on the far right. During the Tournament, the team wrote, produced and performed a skit with just 40 minutes to write and rehearse. The topic was “Getting Into the Spirit” and students had to show what might happen if they had to live with a holiday/seasonal/team spirit for the rest of their lives. They participated in a “Face-Off!”, a round of questions from history and math to literature and consumer issues; and rotated among three challenging “Mind Sprint” problems, testing their verbal, critical and creative problem-solving skills. The team has been practicing since last fall.