Braves brain squad wins first in state

Yes! They did it!

La Conner’s Knowledge Bowl team made a name for our small town by winning the state championship — the first Knowledge Bowl team in the school’s history to accomplish such a feat.

Senior Will Malcomson was clearly the heavyweight that carried the team to an exciting victory last Saturday in Arlington, but team captain Kaleb Slaatthaug, along with Keith Carlton, Elizabeth Tripp and Myken Hassler all played an important part in clinching this impressive title.

According to his mother, Will began reading encyclopedias and almanacs at age five, while Kaleb began reading science books at age eight, so between the two of them, the knowledge stored in their brains was more than the other teams could handle.

As teammate Myken Hassler said, “Even when we know the answer, we are just agreeing with what Will or Kaleb already know.” But that wasn’t always the case, as each one of the other team members contributed uniquely to the overall points that brought them to an exciting finish.

The La Conner team was a force to be reckoned with early on as they won each of the four qualifying oral rounds by a huge margin in the morning, which allowed them to compete in the semi-final round in the afternoon. One strategy that contributed to their repeated victories came from Myken as she warned her teammates not to buzz in too early.

The scores in the first morning rounds of 50 questions each were 19 to 12 to 4, the second round 20 to 9 to 2, the third round 23 to 7 to 4 and the fourth round 21 to 6 to 4, with La Conner at the top in every round.

They had little to worry about going into the semi-final round, but they were caught off guard once there, facing Reardon and Tonasket. Each team started out scoring one point after another. By question No. 9, they all had three points, and it wasn’t clear as to who would pull ahead. By question No. 40, Reardon had only seven points, but Tonasket and La Conner were tied at 12 points with only 10 questions remaining.

The stakes were high and the tension was visible, but La Conner managed to pull ahead in the home stretch to finish with 19 points against Tonasket’s 13.

La Conner started out the final round with a bang and gained a five-point advantage right from the start and maintained their lead throughout. Liberty Bell fought hard, but in the end, the final score was 16 to 12 to 8 as La Conner cinched up the first place spot with Methow Valley’s Liberty Bell in second and Okanogan coming in third.

Many cheers went up as the round ended and the teams congratulated each other. “Finally!” shouted homeschooler Kaleb Slaatthaug, as last year the team came in second in state and was fourth the year before.

Kaleb and Will were the only two who competed in all three tournaments. It was a sweet victory for this team, made up mostly of seniors, who won’t be competing again. Will noted, “This win isn’t just for us, it’s for Alex and Jordan and all the team members who came before us.” His uncle made an appropriate sign for the day stating, “Where there’s a WILL, there’s a way!”

Coaches Sally Schroeder and Beth Clothier were more than pleased with the outcome and arranged a fire truck parade escort through town as the winning team returned to La Conner Saturday afternoon.

School Superintendent Tim Bruce met them in the roundabout with a bouquet of balloons, while several town folks cheered them on, as the first place trophy was being waved out the window for all to see.

“It’s so fun to work with these guys,” Coach Schroeder said with a smile. “It’s all on the kids. They get where they need to be — we just provide the sugar.”