West Craven team wins state history bowl

RALEIGH -- Four students from West Craven Middle School correctly answered questions Wednesday about authors, the tobacco industry and other facts as they earned the school's fourth straight state history bowl championship.

Eighth-graders Xavier Collins, Aspyn Fulcher, Sara Neilson and Sarah Richardson made up the West Craven team. David Rackley, who taught history for 19 years, coached the team. It defeated McDougle Middle School of Chapel Hill, 155-85, in the championship game at the N.C. Museum of History.

"It was close, and they (McDougle) were ahead in the first round," Rackley said. "We got ahead the second round. In the third round, we got a really big lead and we won. It's all a whirlwind right now, but I'm so proud of these kids. They've sacrificed a lot of free time, and they could have been doing a lot of other things than studying for school."

West Craven also defeated McDougle last year to win the history bowl. Rackley coached the school to history bowl championships in 1999, 2005, 2006 and 2007. He said the school also won a championship in the mid-1980s.

"That makes it tough, because everybody wants to beat you," he said. "The games at the state were a lot tougher than the regional. Any question missed at the wrong time could have lost any game."

Rackley said his students were able to correctly answer questions at important times about North Carolina authors and the history of the tobacco industry.

The team received a trophy and $200 cash and each student received a trophy for winning the competition. Rackley said the team plans to use the money to go out to eat before the end of the school year.

The history bowl began in 1980 in Four Oaks, near Smithfield. Four players compete for a team at a time, and each team can have one alternate.

Students answer questions in three rounds of each history bowl match. A team earns five points for each correct answer.

In the first round, each team has five minutes to answer 12 questions. In the second round, each team answers eight questions. If a team gives a correct answer, it gets a bonus question. The bonus question is worth 15 points.

In the 10-minute final round, the moderator asks questions that either team can answer. Correct answers are worth five points and bonus questions are 15 points.

Seven teams from different regions of North Carolina compete in the state tournament. A team from Grover C. Fields Middle School also played in Raleigh. It won the right to compete by defeating Smyrna Elementary in the regional championship Feb. 8 in New Bern.

Grover C. Fields lost Wednesday morning in its first state game against Kannapolis Middle. The team members were Caity Bodo, Katie Domke, Da Htoo, Cameron Kirby and Emily Price. It was a short but positive experience for them, said Marisa Forrest, the team's coach.

"It was a tough match," Forrest said. "Our team just seemed to be on an off day.

"I knew after the first round against Kannapolis that we were in trouble. They had a difficulty connecting with the questions today. Like I told them, they were still winners because there were only seven teams from the state and we were one of them."