LHS Scholastic Bowl Heads to Regionals

After coming close to a win several times in the past few years, senior Ryan Harding is thrilled the Varsity Scholastic Bowl Team was able to take top honors Feb. 23 at the South South Suburban Blue conference championship.

“It was pretty special,” said Harding, who has been a member of the high school’s academic quiz team since he was a freshman. “To finally win was very cool for us.”

Scholastic Bowl team members competed in four SSC mini-meets in January and February, and Lemont High School was the highest scoring team in the SSC Blue Division during the mini-meets, with 2,117 points.

Though Lemont’s Scholastic Bowl team members hold practices periodically, winning is “really based on knowledge,” Harding said.

“I’m pretty good on the science side and a lot of the miscellaneous random trivia,” he said.

Students have to master as much information as they can in math, science, literature and history for the fast-paced academic competitions. Teams are made up of five students, and during each round, the students are asked 20 questions, which are answered individually and based on who answers them correctly the fastest.

If a team answers a question correctly, it gets a bonus question, and members of the team can work together to answer it. If one team does not answer the question correctly, the other team has a chance to answer.

There are 10 students named to the All-SSC team, encompassing both the Red and Blue Divisions, said Tony Hamilton, Lemont High School’s Director of School and Community Relations. The all-conference teams consist of the students who correctly answered the greatest number of questions throughout the four mini-meets.

Harding and fellow Lemont High School senior Jim Shupryt each were named to the All-SSC team this season. Harding answered 30 toss-ups correctly, while Shupryt totaled 29.

Lemont High School’s Scholastic Bowl sponsor Dawn Weber lauds the varsity team’s synergy.

“They have been playing together their entire high school career and they really work well as a team,” she said. “They are a competitive group who thrive under pressure. But I think the biggest thing that attributes to their success is that they are all really smart.”

After Harding graduates from high school, he plans to pursue a major in biochemistry. But for now, he’s enjoying his time with the Scholastic Bowl.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “We get to meet a lot of people who have similar interests. And we have a good time.”

Lemont's Scholastic Bowl team, which competes at the IHSA Class AA level, will take part in the IHSA Regional at Hinsdale Central on Monday. Its first match will be against Romeoville at 5:30 p.m. The winner of that match will square off against the winner of the Stagg-Lockport match at 6:30 p.m., and the regional championship match will be at 7:30 p.m.

The winners of the Hinsdale Central, Lyons Township, Marist and Eisenhower IHSA Regionals will compete at the IHSA Marist Sectional on Saturday, March 12. The sectional champion advances to the IHSA State Finals, which will be held at the Peoria Civic Center on Friday, March 18.