NEIGHBORS

Vineland High's academic team battles Buena

djneighbors@thedailyjournal.com
(Front row, from left) Travis Harrell, Nerys Muller, Bobby Dickenson and Hannah Joyce; and (back row, from left) Vicki Yeager, Savannah Brown, Savan Patel, Lucas Thomas, Anuj Patel, Ian Simek and Julia Albertson are the members of the Vineland High School Academic Team.

After a nail-biting, one-hour battle of wits, host Vineland High School defeated Buena Regional High School, 87-86 in the fourth annual Vineland Invitational Academic Bowl held recently at Vineland High School Vineland. Coached by Vicki Yeager, the team is now 2-2 in the series with Buena, which began in 2013.

The competition is intended to showcase the academic talent of the top students at area high schools. According to organizers, the final point total is less significant than how well the contestants answered extremely challenging questions in history, literature, geography, math, science and what could be accurately described as “intellectual trivia.” In the contest, correct answers were worth five points. Also, teams would score three points for correctly answering a question missed by their opponents.

Vineland Public Schools Principal's List

The competitions which include two, 30-minute halves, feature teams of two seniors and two juniors from Vineland competing against two seniors and two juniors from Buena for each half. Each team also has a senior and a junior alternate in case a starter is not able to compete.

Each team consisted of four seniors and a senior alternate and four juniors and a junior alternate. Vineland's competition team includes seniors Nerys Muller, Travis Harrell, Hannah Joyce, Ian Simek and Bobby Dickenson, and juniors Anuj Patel, Savan Patel, Lucas Thomas, Savannah Brown and Julia Albertson.

Moderator for the competition was Richard Panas, assistant principal, Vineland High School, and judge was Diane Dooley, Vineland High School social studies teacher and department chair at Vineland High School South.

The teams battled through the first half. By the end of the first half Vineland was ahead by eight points. After four challenges during halftime, the score was 50-42 in favor of Vineland. The two teams continued to battle throughout the second half with a final challenge giving Vineland the win.

“It was the most exciting competition I’ve ever coached,” said Yeager. “It went down to the last moment. I’m so proud of the team and how well they worked together.”

The Vineland team also won against Millville, 32-24, on Nov. 19 in the annual "Brain Brawl" between the two teams. The battle for intellectual bragging rights between Vineland and Millville is the academic equivalent of the annual Thanksgiving Day football game between the longtime rivals. The contest featured questions in math, history, literature, spelling, science and current events.