Melrose competed in the National Knowledge Bowl tournament on Saturday, April 22. The tournament was conducted online through Discord.
Competing for Melrose were Tanner Sand, Natalie Enright, Cole Chellgren, Austin Kelzer, and Grant Hellermann.
There were 29 teams participating, with four divisions. Teams represented schools in Colorado, Minnesota, and Washington. Divisions were determined by the school's grade 9-12 student population. Melrose was placed in the AA division. There were three other Minnesota schools in the tournament. Buffalo was placed in AAAA. Chaska and Benilde St. Margaret in AAA. There were no MN schools competing in the A division.
During the written test and first four oral rounds, all schools competed together, regardless of the school population. After oral round four, scores were sorted by the top three scores in each of the four divisions.
The competition began with the students completing a 40-question Google document multiple choice test. Melrose scored 33/40. This score placed Melrose in first place in the AA division and sixth place overall. Chaska had the overall highest test score with 37.
Melrose's score of 33 placed them in room two for the first round of competition against AAA school Benilde St. Margaret and A school Colorado Springs School (CSS).
Oral rounds had 35 questions. After the first 17 questions, CSS led with 7, Melrose with 4, and Benilde St. Margaret with 3. After question 35, Melrose led with 14, CSS with 13, and Benilde St. Margaret with 4. Melrose's score of 14 maintained their lead in AA schools, finding them tied for second overall and moved Melrose to room one for the second oral round.
In the second oral round, Melrose was competing against AAAA Buffalo and AAA Grand Junction Colorado. This was a very difficult round for Melrose, only scoring three points. Buffalo scored 14 and Grand Junction scored 12. After the second round of tabulations, Melrose dropped to twelfth overall and fourth in division AA.
While the Melrose team was a bit frustrated with their round two score, they immediately responded scoring an 18 in round three against Colorado's AA Lamar and A Colorado Springs Schools. Melrose's score of 18 in this round was the second-highest score of the day in the oral competition. Melrose's score of 18 moved them back to first place in AA and fifth place overall.
The fourth oral round of competition was AA Melrose against Colorado's AA Stargate and AAA Durango Schools. This was a very close round with Melrose earning 9 points, Durango 10 points, and Stargate 12. These scores allowed Stargate to overtake Melrose for the AA lead with 80 points. However, Melrose remained in second place with 77, and Berthoud, CO with 73. Thus Stargate, Melrose, and Berthoud would be playing in the AA national champion round for first, second, and third. Stargate had finished their season as Colorado's AAA state champion, Melrose as Minnesota's AA state champion, and Berthoud as Colorado's AAAA fourth-place state finisher. Stargate started the round correctly answering the first question. Melrose was quick on the buzzer but was unable to answer correctly until question eight when the correct answer was Poe's "Tell-Tale Heart." At the score check after 17 questions, Stargate had the lead with 7, Melrose with 4, and Berthoud with 2. The final 18 questions of the tournament were a tight battle. Stargate ended with 6, Melrose and Berhoud each with 4. The final score was Stargate 93, Melrose 85, and Berthoud 81.
There was much chatting on Discord going on throughout the day between players and coaches from the three states involved in the tournament. Congratulatory comments to Minnesota schools for the highest written test round, 37/40, for Chaska and the two highest oral rounds going to Buffalo with 19, and Melrose with 18. Following the announcements of place finishers in each division, Chaska Coach Bartels commented, "Minnesota Superlative Sweep!" One of the players from AAA Ridgefield, WA responded, "Next year is Washington's year, mark my words. The reign of Minnesota shall not stand!!! But for now, really nice job - those are actually insane oral round scores."
What an awesome season for the Melrose Knowledge Bowl Team: Conference Champions, Sub-Section Champions, Section 7 Champions, State AA Champions, and National AA Second Place! Co-captains Austin Kelzer and Grant Hellermann stated, "Our goal all year was to bring home a state championship for Mr. Leraas. We did it and competing in Nationals was a great way to end our Knowledge Bowl careers." Melrose will graduate 11 seniors, including the five competing at state and nationals. Coach Leraas commented, "They have been an awesome bunch of seniors. I commend their knowledge, leadership, dedication, and cooperativeness. They have certainly "set the bar "for Melrose Knowledge Bowl. While Ridgefield, CO may think next year's national competition belongs to Washington, Melrose just might have a different viewpoint."
Final results of the day:
AAAA
1. Liberty, CO 87
2. Fairview, CO 86 3.
Buffalo, MN 84
AAA
1. Grand-Junction, CO 103
2. Chaska, MN 88
3. Durango, CO 86
AA
1. Stargate, CO 93
2. Melrose, MN 85
3. Berhoud, CO 81
A
1. The Colorado Springs-School, CO 87
2. Pikes-Peak-Christian, CO 80
3. The-Vanguard-School, CO. 73