It was a rewarding season for the KHS Scholars’ Bowl team, which concluded their season Saturday, February 14 at Russel, KS where they took 11th at state competition.

Head coach Joyce Siniard and assistant coach Seth Roe knew at the start of the season that their team had great potential. The varsity team was led by seniors David Williams, Jeremiah Cooley, Haley Miller and Tate Henry and juniors Bethany Bailey and Christian Maude. Everyone was anxious for a successful season.

"Even though they qualified for semi-finals quite often, they didn’t place until league where they came in at 3rd place. After receiving a pep talk, they competed really well with lots of determination at regionals. When a team beats the competition it encountered with scores of 120-20, 90-10, and 80-20 it is awesome to watch. Team work plays a large part, and this team is just that, a TEAM!" stated Mrs. Siniard who spoke proudly of the scholars’ bowl team success.

Scholars’ Bowl isn’t just a competitive activity between schools. It’s much more. For Mrs. Siniard, it is a personal battle field as well. Mrs. Siniard’s daughter, Sarah House, is also a head coach of her own scholars’ bowl team in Wellington. So not only are they competing for school bragging rights, but also family bragging rights.

Mrs. Siniard has been coaching Scholars’ Bowl for 18 years. Her coaching career started when her own daughter was in scholars’ bowl. Mrs. House has been coaching a scholars’ bowl team for 12 years. Does her mother make a better coach because of her age and 6 more years of experience? The KHS scholars’ bowl team would like to think so.

The family rivalry will probably last until Mrs. Siniard retires, which we hope is a long time coming. We will have to keep track of the Siniard vs. House rivalry in upcoming years of scholars’ bowl competitions.

Although they didn’t come out on top of the entire state tournament, Kingman did win a small victory. They beat Wellington in placing at state. Kingman came in at 11th place, and Wellington came in last at 12th place.