by Dennis Dalman
The Sartell Varsity Knowledge Bowl team will compete against nine area teams in the sub-regional Knowledge Bowl competition Monday, March 17 at Celebration Lutheran Church in Sartell.
The team members are Sam Chappell, Adam Dullinger, Curt Koopmeiners, Gopi Ramanathan and Quinn Skoog. In February, that team placed first in an invitational meet in Sartell, beating out the highly rated St. John’s Prep team. The team earned 109 points; the SJU team earned 96.5 points.
The team’s coach is science teacher Luke Walker.
At the March 17 sub-regional, Sartell will compete against the following teams: Apollo, Buffalo, Chisago Lakes, Elk River, Monticello, North Branch, Princeton, Rogers and Sauk Rapids-Rice.
At the invitational, participating teams are divided into categories of competition: small schools, medium schools, large schools. Sartell is in the latter category.
The regional play-offs will take place Thursday, March 20, also at Celebration Lutheran Church in Sartell. The top six teams from each sub-regional competition will compete in the regionals. Five winners from the regional meet will then go on to compete at the statewide meet April 10-11 at Cragun’s Resort near Brainerd. From the regionals, the five winning teams will include two from Class A (smaller schools based on population) and two from Class AA (larger schools). The fifth team will be the one with the best score, regardless of school size.
At the March 17 sub-regional competition, a written round will begin at about 9 a.m., followed by a series of oral rounds.