Teams

The Apollo Academic Team began its 21st season when the 65 members of the 2004-2005 squad began practice and study Aug. 16. Head coach John Woolley also began his 21st season, assisted by 6th-year assistant coach Becky Mann and 1st-year assistant coach Tim Weatherholt.

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. 18 in Antioch, Tenn.; the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Earlybird Tournament Oct. 2 in Champaign, Ill.; the Vanderbilt Academic Bowl Contest XXVIII Oct. 22-23 in Nashville, Tenn.; the Hart County Academic Invitational Nov. 13 in Munfordville; the Brookwood Invitational Scholars Bowl Nov. 20 in Snellville, Ga.; the Pennyrile Academic Association Tournament Dec. 18 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. 13 and 27, Oct. 25, Nov. 8 and 29.

In addition, during the first semester, team members will compete in American Scholastic Mathematics Association contests, the Brescia University Math-Science Competition, the Ford Center Academic Tournament, the Student Loan People JV Challenge and the Fall Knowledge Master Open.

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 only one starter returning, will face the challenge of trying to best last year's record of 68-32.

Academic team fund-raising activities for this year include candy sales, I-Mark Pen sales and recycling computer printer cartridges, aluminum cans and cardboard. Please help by bringing empty computer cartridges to room 320.

22nd National Academic Championship

The Apollo High School quick recall team competed in the third and final phase of the 22nd Annual National Academic Championship held June 11-14 at the Drury Plaza Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. This was Apollo’s 10th appearance in the NAC and their 15th appearance in a national tournament since 1991.

This year’s NAC involved 112 teams from 30 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands and was held in three phases. The first phase was held May 28-31 at Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana and the second phase was held June 3-6 at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. The New Orleans phase featured 38 teams, the Arlington phase featured 46 teams and the St. Louis phase featured 28 teams. In each phase, teams played four preliminary matches, with the top 16, 20 and 12, respectively, advancing to a single-elimination playoff. The New Orleans and Arlington winners played the two St. Louis finalists in the national semifinals and the winners of those two matches played to determine the overall champion.

St. Thomas Academy (7-1) of Mendota Heights, Minnesota won the 2004 NAC by defeating Elizabethtown (Pennsylvania) Area High School (7-2) 330-315 in the overall championship match in St. Louis. Defending NAC champion Horace Greeley High School (8-1) of Chappauqua, New York, the Arlington winner, placed third. East High School (7-2) of West Chester, Pennsylvania, the New Orleans winner, placed fourth.

Apollo went 2-2 in the preliminaries, suffered their two losses by one question each, outscored their opponents 1,100 to 925, and missed the playoffs by one match. They placed 16th among the 28 teams in St. Louis and 58th overall among the 112 teams competing in the NAC. The quick recall Eagles averaged 275 points per match, placing 14th in St. Louis and 52nd overall in that category.

Match results for Apollo were: Preliminaries: Match 1 – defeated Lamar High School of Houston, Texas, 295-225. Round 2 – defeated Drummond (Oklahoma) High School, 345-215. Round 3 – lost to El Paso (Texas) High School 240-230. Round 4 – lost to Dwight D. Eisenhower High School of Shelby Township, Michigan, 245-230.

Michael Boone and A.J. Estes led the team in scoring with 5 tossups per match each, followed by Elizabeth Rogers, Bart Swift and Tyler Sagardoy. The team finished its 2003-2004 season with a record of 68-32 (68%), outscoring 55 different opponents from 9 states 15,887 to 12,413. The AHS team played in 10 tournaments this season, placing in the top five in five of them, including one win, one second, one fourth and two fifths.

Michael Boone and A.J. Estes, honored as the Apollo academic team’s outstanding seniors for 2003-2004 at the AHS academic team banquet May 13, put their names in the AHS quick recall record book in several categories. A.J. achieved the second highest one-year language arts tossup total of 441 (just 16 shy of Jason Harris’s record of 457 set in 2002-2003), the ninth highest career tossup total of 1,163 and the 14th highest one-year tossup total of 644. Michael achieved the fourth highest one-year science tossup total of 225, the 10th highest career tossup total of 679, the 11th highest one-year math tossup total of 136 and the 15th highest one-year tossup total of 605.

In 20 years of competition, Apollo varsity quick recall teams have compiled a record of 1,209-429 (74%), outscoring 375 different opponents from 27 states and the District of Columbia 238,635 to 165,018.

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 and the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park; Union Station; the Jefferson Expansion National Memorial, including a ride to the top of the Gateway Arch and a Mississippi riverboat cruise on the “Tom Sawyer.”

Pennyrile Meet #1

The Apollo academic team began the 2004-2005 competition season, its 21st, by hosting Pennyrile Academic Association meet #1 Sept. 13.

The varsity quick recall team went 2-0, defeating Henderson County 26-16 and Owensboro Catholic 24-22. Elizabeth Rogers led the team in scoring with 12 tossups per match, followed by Ian Wilkey, Ryan Seabolt, Travis McMaine and Branden Payton.

The junior varsity quick recall team went 0-2, losing to Henderson County 23-16 and to Owensboro Catholic 20-13. Thomas Cameron led the team in scoring with 7 tossups per match, followed by Roel Flores, Rob Milburn, Derrick Gauselman, Adam Witt, Jeremy Early, Joseph Early, Jermey Taylor, Courtney Schisler, Rose Krzton-Presson, Tristan Hoover and Seth Bodnar.

Varsity written assessment results were: Arts and Humanities – 1st, Elizabeth Rogers; 2nd, Caroline Buchanan; 4th, Taryn Rice; 6th, Andrea Stone. Language Arts – 1st, Carrie Gentry; 2nd, Delana Hill; tied for 3rd, Natalie Johnson and Elaina Reid. Social Studies – 4th, Clayton Carden; 5th, Ed Cureton; 6th, Rachel Gentry; 9th, Dayved Bell. Science – 1st, Travis McMaine; 2nd, Branden Payton; 3rd, Kevin Reel; 4th, Derek Morgan; 8th, Tim Hicks. Math – 1st, Ian Wilkey; 2nd, Ryan Seabolt; 3rd, Rebecca Doom; 7th, Casey Cambron.

Junior varsity written assessment results were: Arts and Humanities – 3rd, Keith Warner; 4th, Jermey Taylor; 5th, Joseph Early; 6th, Adam Witt. Language Arts – tied for 3rd, Seth Bodnar and Alison Schroeder; 5th, Rose Krzton-Presson; 6th, Courtney Schisler. Social Studies – 2nd, Thomas Cameron; tied for 9th, Derrick Gauselman and Tristan Hoover; 11th, Jeremy Early. Science – 3rd, Roel Flores; tied for 5th, Samantha Foster and Jamie Sosh; 8th, Andrew Stelmach. Math- 1st, Wei Ji; 2nd, Rob Milburn; 6th, Chelsea Tipmore; 7th, Cheryl Kreke.