RC Stevens takes first at Science Bowl

HURON — Rapid City Stevens and Dakota Valley battled out the championship round at the 25th annual Science Bowl, which took place at the Huron Event Center on Saturday.
The first place team, RC Stevens, won the final round with 52 to 34 points, and will travel to Washington, D.C. in April to compete in the National Science Bowl, all expenses paid.
Dakota Valley lost to RC Stevens 44-26 in round nine, then came back up after a 42-16 win over third placers, Aberdeen Centeral, to compete in the final round. Rapid City Christian took fourth in the competition with a 30-16 win over Huron.
The morning started with 20 teams from all over the state. Some schools with more than one team, competed with four teams to a room. The eight teams with the best win-loss record at the end of the morning advanced to the afternoon double eliminations rounds.

Huron fired through the beginning of the day and went into the afternoon rounds with a 16-12 win over Redfield-Team 1, until round eight when Dakota Valley took a 34-26 win.
Cash awards were also handed out to the students who correctly answered the highest percentage of toss-up questions during the Science Bowl. Kaleb Schutte of Redfield was third, in second was Noah Keime of Dakota Valley, while Alan Zhu of RC Stevens was first for the second year in a row.
“Thank you to all who helped,” said Tom Borkowski, Coordinator at Western Area Power Administration. “It’s a blast working with these kids. They’re the best and brightest South Dakota has to offer all here in one building.”
The event was sponsored by Northwestern Energy, which supplied the trophies and medals, and by Wal-Mart, providing water.

ANGELINA DELLA ROCCO/PLAINSMAN
The first place team, Rapid City Stevens, displays a trophy and medals after the big win Saturday at the Regional Science Bowl in Huron. From left, are Isaiah Morin-Baster, Sean Bernard, Alan Zhu, Taygen Johns, Jeremy McRae and coach Jennifer Haar. Huron took on Redfield-Team 2 in the morning rounds of the Science Bowl on Saturday, and came out with a 28-16 win for the round.