Valentine scores most points at CSC Scholastic Contest

Valentine, the Division III winner, finished with 15.122 points while O’Neill, which won Division II, was a close second in the overall point totals with 14.967. St. Thomas More of Rapid City, S.D., was third at 14.808, followed by West Holt High of Atkinson with 14.388, Sidney with 13.254, Sturgis, S.D., with 13.195 and Alliance with 13.139.

For the second year in a row, a spring storm reduced the number of participating schools. Thirty-two of the 49 schools that had pre-registered for the contest were able to attend.

Sturgis was the Division I winner by its narrow margin over Alliance. Garden County High of Oshkosh scored the most points in Division IV and Rapid City Christian won the Division V competition.

This was the first time Sturgis has won a division championship at the Chadron State contest. O’Neill, which has fluctuated between Divisions II and III, has now won 18 titles since 1984. Valentine was the Division II winner last year and also won the Division II plaque in 1995.

Garden County has now won seven Division IV plaques, but this is the school’s first since 1999. Rapid City Christian had won five straight Division IV titles before moving down to Division V this year. Christian also won Division IV in 2000.

There were numerous students who excelled at this year’s contest.

Alex Covalt, a senior at Bridgeport, is believed to be just the sixth student in the 47-year history of the event to win three gold medals, which are awarded to the first place winners in each of the 49 tests that were given. He won the American Government, American History and Literature tests.

Previous triple gold medal winners have been Eric Petersen, Banner County, 1979; Ken Nollette, Valentine, 1991; Jonathon Beezley, Gering, 1998; Neah Galloway, O'Neill, 1999; and Eric Lubbers, Yuma, Colo., 2002.

Joe Schultz of O’Neill also won three medals this year. He was first in Computer Science, second in Chemistry and tied for third in Advanced Mathematics.

Medals are presented to the top three students in each test. Seniors who win a gold medal receive a CSC tuition waiver.

Fourteen students besides Covalt and Schultz were double medal winners. They are:

Haley Bakke, West Holt, and Nicole Brandemuehl, Cody-Kilgore, both tied for second in Animal Science and tied for third in Veterinary Science; Haley Cooper, Garden County, first in Economics and second in Psychology; Dylan Douglas, Sidney, first in Chemistry and tied for second in American Government; Amanda Elwess, Chadron, first in Animal Science and tied for first in Veterinary Sciences; Nathan Eveland, Ogallala, third in both Advanced Mathematics and Wildlife Ecology and Management; Mel Graber, Rapid City Christian, third in both Spanish as a Second Language and Vocabulary.

Trent Harris, Valentine, first in accounting and third in American History; Kirsten Lorenz, O’Neill, second in Art Drawing and third in Psychology; Ben Nelson, Sturgis, first in Music and second in American History; Jordan Peterson, O’Neill, first in Word Processing, second in Music; Lauren Rudolph, Ogallala, third in both English Usage and Literature; Raul Sanchez, Alliance; tied for first in Business Mathematics and tied for second in Trigonometry; Kaley Smith, second in Literature and tied for second in Earth Science.

The school standings by divisions:

Division I—1, Sturgis, S.D, 13.195; 2, Alliance, 13.139.

Division II—1, O’Neill, 14.967; 2, Sidney, 13.254; 3, Ogallala, 10.008; 4, Todd County, S.D., 1.364.

Division III—1, Valentine, 15.122; 2, St. Thomas More at Rapid City, S.D., 14.808; 3, West Holt at Atkinson, 14.388; 4, Chadron, 11.164; 5, Ainsworth, 10.267; 6, Bridgeport, 9.523; 7, Perkins County at Grant, 8.264; 8, Bennett County at Martin, S.D., 6.534; 9, Pine Ridge Job Corps Center at Chadron, 5.906; 10, Gordon-Rushville, 5.654.

Division IV—1, Garden County at Oshkosh, 9.350; 2, Crawford, 8.769; 3, Anselmo-Merna, 8.170; 4, Wall, S.D., 7.593; 5, Stuart, 5.447; 6, Leyton, 4.433; 7, Hay Springs, 3.606; 8, Creek Valley at Chappell, 2.50.

Division V—1, Rapid City Christian, 12.533; 2, Potter-Dix, 8.671; 3, Cody-Kilgore, 6.472; 4, Hyannis, 5.802; 5, Minatare, 4.412; 6, Thedford, 4.073; 7, Mullen, 2.936; 8, Arthur, 2.612.

The medal winners:

Accounting—1, Trent Harris, Valentine; 2, Keira Olvey, Alliance; 3, tie Briehaunna Cook, Sidney, and Heather Hoefs, Valentine.

Advanced Mathematics—1, Tayler Schubauer, Valentine; 2, Tyler Dodge, Sturgis; 3 tie, Nathan Eveland, Ogallala, and Joseph Schmitz, O’Neill.

Agronomy and Range Management—1, Emily Helms, Wall; 2, Ryan Frickel, West Holt; 3, Michael Beyer, Sidney.

Algebra I—1, Jacob Bradley, Chadron; 2, Eric Teachout, Sturgis; 3, Colten Fales, Anselmo-Merna.

Algebra II—1, Molly Lux, Crawford; 2, Nicholas Goodhope, Sturgis; 3, Jaicee Post, Bridgeport.

American Government—1, Alex Covalt, Bridgeport; 2-3, Chris Bartak, Ainsworth, and Dylan Douglas, Sidney.

American History—1, Alex Covalt, Bridgeport; 2, Ben Nelson, Sturgis; 3 tie, Connor Davis, O’Neill, Dane Hansen, St. Thomas More, Trent Harris, O’Neill.

Animal Science—1, Amanda Elwess, Chadron; 2-3, Haley Bakke, West Holt, and Nicole Brandumuehl, Cody-Kilgore.

Art Drawing—1, Casey Robinson, Ainsworth; 2, Kirsten Lorenz, O’Neill; 3, Kyren Conley, Alliance.

Business Law—1, Bridget Scherbarth, Alliance; 2, Ethan Storey, Garden County; 3 tie, Erica Mohs, Sidney, and Ted Nichols, Chadron.

Business Communications and Vocabulary—1, Sami Johnson, Ainsworth; 2, Michael Johnson, Alliance; 3, Maggie Abbott, Ogallala.

Business Management Decisions Making—1, Jeff Hawken, Ogallala; 2, Zach Hutchinson, Ogallala; 3 tie, Tyler Strasburger, Gordon-Rushville, and Jeremiah Donovan, Bennett County.

Business Mathematics—1-3 tie, Raul Sanchez, Alliance; Madison Kistler, Hyannis; and Sara Watson, Alliance.

Chemistry—1, Dylan Douglas, Sidney; 2, Joseph Schmitz, O’Neill; 3, Daniel Bergland, Sturgis.

CISCO Networking—1, William Reynolds, Sturgis; 2, Zach Payne, Alliance.

Computer Science—1, Joseph Schmitz, O’Neill; 2, Josh Wollery, Garden County; 3 tie, Sam Ballard, Crawford, and Michael Fusselman Gordon-Rushville.

Construction Technology—1, Beau McConnell, Garden County; 2, Chad Kohle, Stuart; 3, Jerod Waterman, O’Neill.

Consumer Issues—1, Katheryn Wehmeyer, Ogallala; 2-3, Tonya Blomenkamp, Bridgeport, Amanda Olson, Stuart, and Whitney White, Hay Springs.

Drafting and Graphic Communications—1-3 tie, Jonathon Johnson, Gordon-Rushville; Tyson Narjes, Sidney; and Luke Peterson, Alliance.

Earth Science—1, Luke Shama, St. Thomas More; 2-3, Joseph Lenzo, Chadron, and Kaley Smith, Potter-Dix.

Economics—1, Haley Cooper, Garden County; 2, Becky Brix, Arthur County; 3, David Gutierrez, Sidney.

English Usage—1-2, Anthony Conklin, St. More, and Katie Berglund, Alliance; 3, Lauren Rudolph, Ogallala.

General Anatomy and Physiology—1, Tim Witt, Crawford; 2, Alexa Krajewski, Ogallala; 3, Robin Easterly, Sidney.

General Biology—1, Camy Joule, Alliance; 2, Michael Stewart, Alliance; 3, Eric Fritz, West Holt.

General Science—1, Dan Zavatz, St. Thomas More; 2, Dylan Aufdenkamp, O’Neill’ 3, Dustin Bryant, Cody-Kilgore.

Health—1, Kailee Galles, Hay Springs; 2-3, Kassey Allen, Pine Ridge Job Corps, and Clayton Osborn, Mullen.

Human Development and Family Life—1, Elizabeth Hofer, St. Thomas More; 2, Korri Isom, O’Neill; 3, Deanna Fields, Chadron.

Information Literacy—1, Ally Oxner, Sturgis; 2, Cory Cummings, Alliance; 3, Rebeka Laible, West Holt.

Library Science and Educational Media—1, Megan Dimmitt, Alliance; 2, Taylor Covalt, Bridgeport; and 3, Calli Johnson, Valentine.

Literature—1, Alex Covalt, Bridgeport; 2, Kaley Smith, Potter-Dix; 3, Lauren Rudolph, Ogallala.

Manufacturing—1, Tyler Mandelko, Chadron; 2, Will Dexter, Anselmo-Merna; 3, Drew Scheaffer, Wall.

Music—1, Ben Nelson, Sturgis; 2, Jordan Peterson, O’Neill; 3 tie, Chloe Olson, Garden County, and Jocelyn Limbach, Crawford.

Nutrition and Family Health—1, Kelsey Timmerman, O’Neill; 2, Sarah Counts, Creek Valley; 3, Philip Engel, Ogallala.

Physical Education Sports Knowledge—1, Jordan Ottoson, Potter-Dix; 2-3, Ben Anderson,Wall, and Marquevis Finley, Pine Ridge Job Corps.

Physics—1-2, Jacob Peterson, West Holt, and Ethan Simmons, Valentine; 3, Andrew Mock, Sidney.

Plane Geometry—1, Michael Christen, Anselmo-Merna; 2, Chris Galbraith, St. Thomas More; 3 tie, Alexandria Cape, Leyton, and Nick Padilla, Sturgis.

Psychology—1, Kim Borm, Sidney; 2, Haley Cooper, Garden County; 3, Kirsten Lorenz, O’Neill.

Sociology—1, Rebecca Chasek, Chadron; 2, Katie Isom, Valentine; 3, Sarah Wurst, Perkins County.

Spanish as a Native Language—1, Rebecca Acosta, Alliance; 2, Juan Penagos, O’Neill; 3, Marco Poveda, Thedford.

Spanish as a Second Language—1, Marin Baker, Rapid City Christian; 2, Frank Chapa, Pine Ridge Job Corps; 3, Mel Graber, Rapid City Christian.

Technology Challenge—1, Robert Lemmon, Crawford; 2, Luke Rawles, Gordon-Rushville.

Technology Challenge-2xForum—1, Frank Krimmel, Pine Ridge Job Corps; 2, Gatlin Denton, Gordon-Rushville; 3, Clayton Kolling, Crawford.

Trigonometry—1, Stephen Kilber, Rapid City Christian; 2-3, Raul Sanchez, Alliance, and Jason Mann, O’Neill.

Veterinary Sciences—1-2, Amanda Elwess, Chadron, and Brenna Jungck, Hay Springs; 3 tie, Kandis Barthel, Alliance, Haley Bakke, West Holt, Nicole Brandemuehl, Cody-Kilgore.

Vocabulary—1, Mike Zavitz, St. Thomas More; 2, Jennifer Holm, O’Neill; 3, Mel Graber, Rapid City Christian.

Wildlife Ecology and Management—1, August Wilson, West Holt; 2, Paul Hamilton, Sidney; 3 tie, Nathan Eveland, Ogallala; and Justin Keefeler, Sturgis.

Word Processing—1, Jordan Peterson, O’Neill; 2, Tyler Weinrich, Pine Ridge Job Corps; 3, Hannah Geller, Leyton.

World Geography—1, Lance Wilson, Perkins County; 2, Matt Tysdal, Sturgis; 3, Reilly Hoch, Ainsworth.

World History—1, Ryan Butler, Valentine; 2, Seth Davis, Ainsworth; 3 tie, Eric Lindvall, Valentine, and Seth Mizner, Ainsworth.