VIDEO, PHOTOS: Macomb Junior High Scholastic Team wins state title

Story and video by Heather Munro

The Macomb Junior High Scholastic Bowl Team won the 2009 Class AA Scholastic Bowl State Championship Tournament Friday.  This is the second year in a row Macomb has won this championship.

The Scholastic Bowl team is the only Macomb junior high team to be first place champions in the last 50 years.

The Macomb Junior High Scholastic Bowl team members participating in the State Tournament were eighth graders -Raymond Chong, Caitlin Dowdall, Amanda Hunter, Abe Matlak, Will Seaton, Kaitlin Twaddle, and Tristan Willey and seventh graders - Sophia Baramidze, Kellsi Edwards, Daniel Freesmeyer, Francesca Hamm, Vince Mahr, Jackson Matlak, Andrew McGowan, and Andy Woodruff. 

Seventh grade science teacher, Linda Wilson, coaches the team.

The Macomb team left school on Friday after having had a rousing send-off from the rest of the junior high students.

Held in Normal at Heartland Community College, the tournament began Friday afternoon with teams battling it out three matches. The team with the best record after the three matches went on to the final championship match.

The state competition brought together the 16 sectional champions from all over the state.  Schools are divided into Class A and Class AA determined by the enrollment size with both Class A and AA having eight teams each.  Placed into the Class AA (larger school) division, Macomb was the smallest school in Class AA with an enrollment of 295 seventh and eighth graders.  Some of the other Class AA schools had enrollments of over 500. 

The eight teams in each class are divided into two pools, Pool A and Pool B consisting of 4 teams each.  Macomb played in Pool B.

Macomb's first match was against Jonathan Turner Junior High of Jacksonville with Macomb winning 305 to 140.

The second match of the day against Daniel Wright Junior High of Lincolnshire was especially grueling and at the same time thrilling to watch. Daniel Wright was the state champion in 2006 and 2007 and lost the championship last year to Macomb.

At the beginning of the match, the Daniel Wright team pulled quickly ahead, at one point being 48 points ahead of Macomb.  However, Macomb rallied and at the end of the first half had fought back and was only eight points behind Daniel Wright.

The second half showed the true grit of the Macomb team as Macomb pulled ahead right away on the first question and remained in the lead until the end of the game, Macomb winning with a score of 290 to 242 Daniel Wright.

Macomb's third match of the day was against Sycamore Middle School of Sycamore with Macomb winning 298-170. 

With winning all three of its matches in Pool B Macomb was in the final match for the championship where the winner of Pool B went against the winner of Pool A. Macomb played against Rochester Middle School of Rochester.  Rochester was a strong team and at one point in the first half, the game was tied. Nevertheless, the Macomb team was determined and never let Rochester get ahead. The final score for the championship game was Macomb 293, Rochester 226.

The evening ended with a lively awards ceremony with the top teams getting trophies and each competitor receiving a medal.

The Macomb Junior High Scholastic Bowl team was ecstatic to bring home another championship trophy to place next to last years in the school trophy case.

Check out photos of this event! Click "Buy photo prints" to the right of the screen.