HAMILTON — A state championship performance by Hamilton High School’s English team got off to a shaky start Saturday at the Academic Super Bowl.
The three-member team missed the correct answers to the first two questions of the state finals at Purdue University.
“They were tense, I wasn’t … because I knew the hours they had spent” in preparation, said their coach, Susan Stackhouse.
The students composed themselves, “and away they went,” Stackhouse said. “By the time they were to question 22, they weren’t going be caught.”
Hamilton’s English squad answered 21 of the 25 questions correctly to win by five points in Class 4, for the state’s smallest schools.
Hamilton also recorded the third-highest English score of all 24 schools in the state finals, regardless of size.
Hamilton’s fine arts team did even better comparatively — ranking second among the whole field — yet still missed out on a state championship.
North White of Monon won the Class 4 crown with a score of 18 correct answers, which proved to be better than any of the larger-school champions.
Hamilton’s score of 17 would have won Class 3 by three points and tied for first in another class, said fine arts coach Sharon Baker. However, she added, “… we are not dissatisfied with state runner-up.”
“The questions were really difficult this year,” accounting for the low scores in fine arts, Baker said.
Experience paid off for Hamilton’s English team. Members Kirsten Willibey and Justin Gilbert had finished as state runners-up in 2008 and 2009, with teammate Melissa Miller joining them last year. Each of the three also had won a state academic championship in junior high school.
“The captain (Willibey) said, ‘You’re not going to be state runners-up again’” to her teammates, Stackhouse said.
“I’m very proud of our team,” Willibey said this week. “We were ready for a championship, and we worked hard this year to get it.
“We worked really hard and studied a lot of hours, and it paid off in the end,” Gilbert said.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve read ‘Slaughterhouse Five’ about six times,” Miller said. This year’s Academic Super Bowl focused on questions involving the 1960s and 1970s era, and Hoosier author Kurt Vonnegut’s novel was on the study list.
Despite the hard work, “We had a blast,” Miller said.
“The fire truck ride that night was extremely cold, but it was worth it!” Willibey said about the team’s greeting when it returned home.
Fine arts team captain Haley Naus agreed that competing at the state finals was hard work, but fun.
“We all had a good time,” she said, “and we couldn’t have done it without our awesome coach, Ms. Baker.”
“It was an amazing experience that I hope to repeat next year,” said Zak Nusbaum of the fine arts team.
Every one of the six state-finalist students can set the same goal. Hamilton’s group includes three juniors and three sophomores.
“It was one of the most enthralling experiences of my life,” said fine arts team member Alexis DeLancey, “and I can go back again!” |
