Bowling for knowledge

Four Brainerd lakes area Knowledge Bowl teams will compete in the 2005 Minnesota Service Cooperative Knowledge Bowl state competition Tuesday and Wednesday at Cragun's Conference and Golf Resort in East Gull Lake.

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Two teams from Brainerd and a team each from Little Falls and Staples-Motley recently qualified for state at the Region 5 Knowledge Bowl Tournament in Staples.

At the regional meet, Brainerd's No. 1 team took first place and its No. 2 team took third. Staples-Motley took second place and Little Falls took fourth. Little Falls and Brainerd each had another team competing at regions, but those teams did not qualify for the state competition.

There will be 48 teams competing at state with 24 teams in the small school division and the remaining 24 teams in the large school division. The teams will compete in one written round and then in five oral rounds for a total of 285 questions covering a wide variety of topics.

Brainerd and Little Falls will compete in the large school division at state and Staples-Motley will compete in the small school division.

Competing on the No. 1 team from Brainerd are seniors Carmen Cummings, Parker Kienholz and Kellen Riley, junior Jason Houle and sophomore Max Kuehn. Brainerd's No. 2 team includes sophomores Logan Mohs, James Voelker, Kara Richards, Mitch Wahlstein and Sam Walker.

Brainerd Knowledge Bowl Coach Craig Rezac said the No. 1 team won all of its regular Knowledge Bowl meets this season. The team also took third place at an invitational this year.

Rezac said the goal at state for the No. 1 team is to place in the top six. The goal for the No. 2 team is to place in the top 15.

"Our No. 2 team is gaining experience," said Rezac. "They are young people and they have two more years of Knowledge Bowl. Our future (in the program) looks good."

Rezac said this season he had 39 students participating in Knowledge Bowl. He said it has become popular because of the strong junior high program.

At the state competition, Rezac said the tough teams to beat will be St. Anthony, Moorhead, Hibbing and St. Thomas Academy.

The Brainerd teams have been practicing once a week to prepare for state competition. They also had a scrimmage with a teacher team.

This will be Little Falls' 11th consecutive year of qualifying for the state meet. Little Falls won the state championship in 1986.

The Little Falls team going to state this year consists of juniors Brianne Daniels, Danielle Fenske, Rachael Dalquist and Aaron Greene, and sophomore Lad Fisk.

Little Falls Knowledge Bowl Coach Ron Hinnenkamp said the team has been practicing once a week in a formal practice session to prepare for state. The team also has been practicing with a teacher team and the sophomore team that also competed in regionals. Hinnenkamp said the sophomores missed their chance for a state spot by two points.

This will be the Staples-Motley team's first trip to the state competition. The team consists of juniors Steve Andrie, Jacob Fink, Andrew Paskewitz, Nathan Roth and Jared Hoffert.

Staples-Motley Knowledge Bowl Coach Becky Hasselberg said the team has been together since junior high. She said the students on the team compete well together.

Hasselberg said the team has been practicing and she hopes the team will finish near the top at the state competition. She said the Staples-Motley team is good, but it has not competed with any of the schools in the small school division.

"We were able to hold our own at regions with Brainerd and Little Falls," said Hasselberg.

JENNIFER STOCKINGER can be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.