The Apollo Academic Team began its 20th season when the
65 members of the 2003-2004 squad began practice and study
Aug. 18. Head coach John Woolley also began his 20th season,
assisted by 5th-year assistant coach Becky Mann and 1st-year
assistant coach John Hay.
The quick recall team will be competing in at least six
tournaments during the first semester. These include: the
Ezell-Harding Christian School Academic Tournament Sept.
20 in Antioch, Tenn.; the University of Michigan-Dearborn
Season Opener Classic Oct. 18 in Dearborn, Mich.; the Vanderbilt
Academic Bowl Contest XXVI Oct. 24-25 in Nashville, Tenn.;
the Hart County Academic Invitational Nov. 8 in Munfordville;
the Brookwood Invitational Scholars Bowl Nov. 22 in Snellville,
Ga.; the Pennyrile Academic Association Tournament Dec. 20
at O.C.C.
The team will also compete in the 15-school Pennyrile Academic
Association, which will include five meets in written assessment
and quick recall for both varsity and J.V. competition. The
meets will be held Sept. 8 and 22, Oct. 27, Nov. 10 and 24.
In addition, during the first semester, team members will
compete in American Scholastic Mathematics Association contests,
National Current Events League meets, the Brescia University
Math-Science Competition, the Ford Center Academic Tournament,
the Student Loan People JV Challenge, the Fall Knowledge
Master Open and the QuizNet internet academic competition.
With such a large and enthusiastic group of team members,
the coaches feel that the tradition of excellence established
by previous Apollo teams will be continued! The varsity quick
recall team, with three starters returning, will face the
challenge of trying to come close to last year's 116-13 record
setting season!
Academic team fund-raising activities for this year include
candy sales and recycling Kroger plastic bags, computer printer
cartridges, aluminum cans and cardboard. Please help by bringing
clean plastic Kroger bags and empty computer cartridges to
room 320.
The Apollo High School quick recall team competed in the
third and final phase of the 21st Annual National Academic
Championship held June 12-15 at the Drury Plaza Hotel in
St. Louis, Missouri. The Eagles placed second in St. Louis
and eighth overall in the NAC, the best showing ever by a
Kentucky school. This was Apollo's ninth appearance in the
NAC and their 14th appearance in a national tournament since
1991.
This year's NAC involved 105 teams from 32 states and the
U.S. Virgin Islands and was held in three phases. The first
phase was held May 29-June 1 at Loyola University in New
Orleans, Louisiana and the second phase was held June 5-8
at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. The New Orleans
phase featured 27 teams, the Arlington phase featured 50
teams and the St. Louis phase featured 28 teams. In each
phase, teams played four preliminary matches, with the top
10, 20 and 12, respectively, advancing to a single-elimination
playoff. The New Orleans winner played the St. Louis winner
and the winner of that match played the Arlington winner
to determine the overall champion.
Horace Greeley High School (9-0) of Chappaqua, N.Y., the
Arlington winner, won the 2003 NAC by defeating Scripps Ranch
High School (6-2) of San Diego, Calif., the New Orleans winner,
375-195 in the overall championship match in St. Louis. Walton
High School (7-1) of Marietta, Georgia, the St. Louis winner,
placed third. Smithtown (N.Y.) High School (7-1), the Arlington
runnerup, placed fourth.
Apollo went 4-0 in the preliminaries and advanced to the
playoffs as the No. 4 seed. In the playoffs, they defeated
No. 5 seed Warren Central High School of Indianapolis, Ind.
and upset No. 1 seed Chaska (Minn.) High School before losing
to No. 2 seed Walton High School. The team went 6-1 in the
tournament, outscored their opponents 2,230 to 1,980, and
placed second among the 28 teams in St. Louis and eighth
overall among the 105 teams competing in the NAC. The quick
recall Eagles averaged 319 points per match, placing ninth
in St. Louis and 28th overall in that category.
Match results for Apollo were: Preliminaries: Match 1 - defeated
Riverside High School of Greer, S.C., 395-295. Round 2 - defeated
Drummond (Okla.) High School, 345-270. Round 3 - defeated
Cistercian Preparatory School of Irving, Texas, 310-285.
Round 4 - defeated Fisher Catholic High School of Lancaster,
Ohio, 310-205. Playoffs: Quarterfinals - defeated Warren
Central High School, 340-235. Semifinals - defeated Chaska
High School, 340-315. Championship - lost to Walton High
School, 375-190.
Jason Harris led the team in scoring with 11 tossups per
match, followed by A.J. Estes, Katrina Boone, Michael Boone
and Landon Basham. The team finished their 2002-2003 season
with a record of 116-13 (90%), outscoring 77 different opponents
from 16 states 29,482 to 15,069. In the process, they set
new team records for most wins in a season (116), breaking
the record of 105 wins set in 2001-2002 and for matches played
in a season (129), breaking the record of 128 matches played
in 2001-2002. The AHS team played in 12 tournaments this
year, placing in the top five in all 12, including four wins,
two seconds, one third, one fourth and four fifths.
Team captain Jason Harris, honored as the Apollo academic
team's outstanding male senior for 2002-2003 at the AHS academic
team banquet May 20, virtually rewrote the AHS quick recall
record book with a superhuman season. Jason set six new team
records including: one-year social studies tossup total of
706 (breaking Garrett Schmitt's record of 487 set in 2001-2002);
one-year language arts tossup total of 457 (breaking Garrett
Schmitt's record of 350 set in 2001-2002); one-year science
tossup total of 567 (breaking his own record of 449 set in
2001-2002); one-year tossup total of 2,083 (breaking his
own record of 1,346 set in 2001-2002); one-year tossup average
of 16.71 (breaking Chris Martin's record of 11.01 set in
1999-2000) and career tossup total of 3,733 (breaking Chris
Martin's record of 2,701 set from 1996-2000). He also achieved
the third highest ever one-year math tossup total of 353
(just 30 shy of Andrew Carter's record of 383 set in 2000-2001).
A.J. Estes achieved the second highest ever one-year language
arts tossup total of 381.
In 19 years of competition, Apollo varsity quick recall
teams have compiled a record of 1,141-397 (74%), outscoring
365 different opponents from 27 states and the District of
Columbia 222,698 to 152,605.
In addition to the competition, the Apollo team enjoyed
many of the sights in the St. Louis area. Among the sights
they visited were: Laclede's Landing; Grant's Farm; The Butterfly
House; the Missouri Botanical Gardens; the St. Louis Zoo,
the St. Louis Art Museum and the Jewel Box in Forest Park;
the Old Courthouse (site of the Dred Scott trials); the Jefferson
Expansion National Memorial, including a ride to the top
of the Gateway Arch and a Mississippi riverboat cruise on
the "Tom Sawyer" and Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in
nearby Illinois. Some of the team members also saw a touring
company performance of the Broadway musical "Beauty and the
Beast" at the Fox Theatre.
