Scholars Bowl has a series of meets from October through February. The team started practicing the first few weeks of school and recruiting new members. Members had their choice of morning or afternoon practices, as long as they attend at least two a week. All this hard work pays off in the final two months with meets around twice a week, ending with League and Regionals.

“Last year on JV was way more laid back and easy,” said junior Chance Rogers. “This year [sponsor Mike] Poliquin is really drilling the questions during practice. We are way more competitive in varsity.”

The team qualified for 2A Regional finals and placed third in the preliminary pool. The pool had eight teams in it, and Conway came out with a 4-3 record. They finished fourth overall out of a total of 16 teams with a 2-3 record in the six-team final. It came down to the last round, and the team just couldn’t pull it out.

“Not as many people went out, and [we had] a new coach, which made a big difference,” said senior and captain Nathan Ohl. “We got fourth, same as last year, even with smaller numbers.”

Regionals is different from other meets due to the high stakes and larger brackets. Even with new varsity members and less members overall, Conway Springs was still represented as a team to be worried about.

“Regionals is a little more stressful because you are competing for state,” said sophomore Lucy Boyles. “There were also different and more schools than usual.”