Wapakoneta took home top honors in the varsity division for the second year in a row and Defiance won the junior varsity division at the Western Buckeye League Scholastic Bowl Tournament held Wednesday, May 4, 2023, at The Ohio State University at Lima. Defiance’s varsity team held back Bath to win runner-up and Shawnee won the JV runnerup.
The winning varsity team from Wapak included Nathan Doll, Trenton Hook, Drew Pothast, Graham Shively and Justin Zink. The team finished with a 7-1 record. The runner-up varsity team from Defiance included Juan Drown, Dennis English, Caden Hazelton and Andrew Sweeney, and finished with an 6-2 record.
The winning JV team from Defiance included Christopher Brinkman, George English, Henry Hoffman, Paige Kern, Dominick Mansfield, Kaden Salaz, Jacob Schnitkey and Zephryn Starr. The team finished with an 5-1 record. The runner-up JV team from Shawnee included Shashank Chanamolu, Painter Drury, Caiden Garlock and Aiden Poland. Shawnee finished with a 5-1 record. While the winning JV teams were tied in overall records, Defiance won in head-to-head competition.
The Wapak coach is Adam Friemering, the Defiance coach is James Kerr and the Shawnee coach is John Young.
The WBL Scholastic Bowl All Tournament Team was chosen by the coaches and made up of one member from each school. The 2023 All Tournament Team members are Jonah Volbert from Bath, Lily Westgerdes from Celina, Dennis English and Caden Hazelton from Defiance, Maddox Bell from Elida, Brandon Gerding from Ottawa-Glandorf, Andrew McKenzie from Shawnee, Jackson Monroe from St. Marys, Parker Barryman from Van Wert and Nathan Doll from Wapakoneta.
High school teams from around western Ohio went head-to-head in the round-robin scholastic bowl tournament. Varsity and junior varsity teams from Bath (Daniel Grime), Celina (Hal Hoover), Defiance (James Kerr), Elida (Melody Morris), Ottawa-Glandorf (Joe Jahnz), Shawnee (John Young), St. Marys (Chad Doll), Van Wert (Chris Kraner) and Wapakoneta (Adam Friemering) competed. Coaches’ names are in parentheses. Kenton was unable to attend.
