The Coweta Charter Academy at Senoia (CCAS) elementary academic team ended its first season with a second place finish at the regional Academic Bowl.
In their inaugural season, the CCAS team flew under the radar in their first two meets, placing sixth out of 12 teams.
“They quickly learned to be fierce competitors and they surpassed some top ranking teams in the third and final meet and placed third, only a few points behind the first and second place teams. For the regular season, their cumulative score of 1,400 points gave them the overall ranking of third place in the North B division,” said second grade teacher Meghann Yosten.
At the finals, the top teams in all four West Georgia divisions competed. The CCAS team dominated and won all three rounds played with scores totaling 560 points, tying with Newnan Crossing Elementary. With their four top players on the buzzers, CCAS won the tie-breaker round scoring 4-1 to secure second place for the West Georgia region, Yosten said.
“We are completely amazed and overwhelmingly proud of our team who have come such a long way from the beginning of this year. When they were first introduced to buzzers, and the rules of the game, we never would have dreamed that we would be standing here when this academic adventure started earlier this school year,” coaches Yosten and Ashley Moran told team members.
The team includes Conrad Dearing, Anastasia Ryder, Janani Jaisimha, Callie Henderson, Nicholas Ratliff, Daphne Thomas, Landon Moran, Riley Parker, Anna Carleton, and Braden Resseguie.
The team of 10 students ranging from third through fifth grade and two coaches are all new to the competition and expected this season to be a learning experience to build on for the future, but they exceeded their own expectations, said Yosten.
A total of 43 academic teams from school systems in Carroll, Coweta, Harris, Heard, Meriwether, and Troup counties participated in the competitions through this season.