West Point High School posted this photo of its team to the school’s Twitter page, with a note that the team has won the county tournament for six years and is 36-0 in tournament competition since 2012. / Photo courtesy West Point High School
CULLMAN COUNTY – Last week was a busy one for scholars’ bowl teams in Cullman County, with tournaments on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 26 and 27, that continued West Point High School’s six-year streak of dominance and sent three area middle schools to the state tournament.
Cullman County Schools Tournament at Wallace State
When Cullman County Schools were finally able to hold their scholars’ bowl tournament at Wallace State, after winter weather canceled the first attempt in December, West Point came out the big winner, taking first-place honors in both team and individual results at high school and middle school levels.
Christine O’Leary, who oversaw the tournament for Wallace State, named Will Parker, Tom Parker and Kohan Lovett, all from West Point; along with R.J. Bynum of Good Hope to the High School All-Tournament Team. To the Middle School All-Tournament Team, she named Carter Duke of West Point, Manisha Adams and Caden Hamby from Hanceville, and Tripp Taylor of Good Hope.
Following are the tournament results:
High School
- First Place . . . West Point HS, with six wins and no losses
- Second Place . . . Good Hope HS, with five wins and one loss
- Third Place . . . Holly Pond HS, with four wins and two losses
High school individuals and point totals
- Will Parker, West Point . . . 280
- Tom Parker, West Point . . . 240
- Kohan Lovett, West Point . . . 240
- R.J. Bynum, Good Hope . . . 210
- Baylee Jennings, Vinemont . . . 140
- Seth Self, Holly Pond . . . 130
- Billy Ellis, West Point . . . 120
- Dakota Brunetti, Hanceville . . . 120
- Madalyn Williams, Good Hope . . . 110
- Zachary Reynolds, Holly Pond . . . 110
Middle School
- First Place . . . West Point MS, with eight wins and no losses
- Second Place . . . Hanceville MS, with seven wins and one loss
- Third Place . . . Good Hope MS, with six wins and two losses
Top scoring middle school individuals and point totals
- Carter Duke, West Point . . . 430
- Manisha Adams, Hanceville . . . 290
- Caden Hamby, Hanceville . . . 260
- Tripp Taylor, Good Hope . . . 250
- Alana Nisley, Hanceville . . . 240
- Connor Nunn, Cold Springs . . . 200
- Adam McCluskey, Good Hope . . . 200
- Kelsey Campbell, Vinemont . . . 170
- Lydia Baker, Vinemont . . . 170
- Lauren Taylor, West Point . . . 160
In a message to The Tribune, Cullman County Schools Superintendent Shane Barnette wrote, "I am continually blown away by the great things that students and teachers from Cullman County are accomplishing. I am so impressed by the level of intelligence that our middle and high school students demonstrated at the scholars' bowl competition this past Friday. Furthermore, when I asked some of them about their future plans after high school, they are setting the bar very high for what they want to accomplish. I believe they all will reach those goals and more."
District Middle School Tournament at West Point
In the District Middle School Tournament on Saturday, 12 teams from around this part of the state came together at West Point to compete for berths in the State Tournament. The teams were divided into pools, with the top two in each pool advancing to State.
Cullman Middle School took first place in its pool, followed by St. Bernard Prep School. West Point Middle School finished second in its pool, behind Arab Junior High School. All four teams will compete in Hoover on Feb. 24.
CMS team coach Bama Turner wrote to The Tribune, “The Cullman Middle School scholars’ bowl team is composed of nine students: Forrest Calvert, Avery Drake, Sarah Flores, Jessie Godbee, Matthew Gossett, Emma Hart, Kaydence Johnson, Kirin Tisdale and Sawyer Trimble. All of these students participated in the regular weekly Cullman County Invitationals that were held at Wallace State College. They walked away from that five-week tournament undefeated with an 11-0 record.
“For the recent district tournament, only six students are allowed to participate but only four were available. The district team was made up of Avery Drake, Jessie Godbee, Matthew Gossett and Kirin Tisdale. A couple of rounds were very close and came down to the last question. They did an awesome job by winning every round of the tournament. I am very proud of these students. I have to give full credit to these students for all that they have achieved.”
The District Junior Varsity Tournament will take place this Friday, Feb. 2 at Wallace State. Hanceville, Holly Pond, Vinemont and West Point will compete against 12 other teams.
The District High School Tournament will be at Wallace State on Friday, Feb. 9. Fairview, St. Bernard and West Point will compete against seven other teams in Division One. Cold Springs, Good Hope, Hanceville, Holly Pond and Vinemont will compete against six other teams.
State competitions for middle school and jr. varsity will take place at Hoover High School south of Birmingham. The middle school tournament will be Wednesday, Feb. 24 and the jr. varsity tournament will be on Saturday, Feb. 27. The high school tournament will be at Jefferson State Community College in Hoover on Apr. 13.
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