Brain Bowl team has two top-3 finishes so far

Do you know which small principality on the French Riviera raises revenues from casinos instead of taxes or what two-word activity former late night host James Cordon liked to do while driving around with celebrities?

There’s a good chance a group of students at Nodaway Valley High School know the answers to these and other obscure trivia questions. They’ve a part of the school’s brain bowl team, coached by Sarah Jensen.

While this year’s team may lack experience after last year’s team graduated a lot of seniors, six of the eight team members this year are younger siblings of those or other graduated members of brain bowl.

In a recent Pride of Iowa competition at Martensdale-St. Marys, the NV team placed second. They lost their first game against Wayne but battled back with wins on the back side of the tournament against Martensdale-St. Marys, Southwest Valley and Central Decatur. Beating Wayne in a revenge game to make the finals, Southeast Warren beat the Wolverines by one for the championship.

Team members are Paul Kading, Erik Jensen, Luke Kading, Simeon Piearson, Dominic Breheny, Caroline Britten, Adelaide Livingston and Michidel Mercado.

Paul Kading said that while the team was grateful for how they’ve done in their two meets so far, saying, “We definitely didn’t do bad, but I think we all expected a little bit more.”

“At Southeast Warren, I think we were all expecting to do a little bit better than we did, but it was our first competition was a team together, so we didn’t do too bad,” Britten said. Southeast Warren was the team’s first meet, where two teams competed and both placed in the top 5.

While studying prior to brain bowl competitions is paramount to the team’s success, because about any topic could pop up in a question, members of the team also have to know each other well. Communication during rounds between team members is frowned upon. Each round lasts 30 minutes.

“If you know it, get on it [and buzz in],” Mercado said. “Don’t wait for [anything]. If you know it, immediately do it.”

After Christmas Break, the brain bowl team will have a home meet with other conference teams Feb. 27. In the meantime, Jensen is eager to see the team continue to grow in their knowledge and teamwork.

“I am very proud of our brain bowl teams this year. We are excited to see them in competition again in February,” Jensen said. “Hopefully we can pick up additional competitions at Wayne and Southwest Valley. I am excited to see what the New Year will bring.”