Middle school, elementary students showcase book smarts

Philomath will have a presence in the Oregon Battle of the Books state tournament next month in Salem following a second-place finish in last weekend’s elementary school regional competition. Meanwhile, the Reading Retrievers dynasty continued into middle school with a fourth straight school championship.

Those are two of the storylines coming out of this year’s Battle of the Books competitions at the middle and elementary schools.

Described by the organization as a “voluntary reading motivation and comprehension program,” the elementary school’s Battle of the Books on-campus competition included 13 teams. Two rounds of pool play led to teams being seeded in a playoff bracket. Out of those, the Bookworms and Enchanted Readers advanced to the PES championship on Feb. 27.

The Bookworms with fifth graders Gretel Appanaitis, Hannah Hammonds and Viola Trippe took the best-of-three competition with two straight wins.

“We had a good crowd of families, teachers and a few other OBOB team members cheering them on,” said Molly Bell, who coordinates the elementary program. “We are proud of all 13 teams that participated this year with 58 students and want to thank all of the parents and teachers who help support our program here at PES.”

The Enchanted Readers team had five members — Leona DeMasi, Camryn Martin, Maya McKnight, Wren Nordyke and Clara Smith. A maximum of four students can participate in battles and the team would rotate one member out each round.

The elementary division (grades 3-5) included a list of 16 books for the students to read.

Trippe, of the winning team, said she enjoys “going up against other teams because it is fun seeing what they can do.”

Team members each have their favorites. Appanaitis favored “The List of Things that Will Not Change” because “it was awesome and catchy,” she said. Smith of the runner-up team said “The Midnight Children” was her favorite “because the kids had to live by themselves and work together as a team.” McKnight, also of the Enchanted Readers, called “Molly and the Twin Towers: A 9/11 Survival Story” her favorite title “because I enjoy that series and author.”

The regional tournament took place at Crescent Valley High School on Saturday with the Bookworms among 26 teams participating. The team earned a No. 1 seed out of pool play and then won all of its single-elimination bracket battles to reach the finale. There, the Kathryn Jones Harrison Elementary School team out of Corvallis earned the victory.

DeMasi joined the Bookworks’ original threesome of Appanaitis, Hammonds and Trippe to give the team four members for the competition.

Bell mentioned that the Bookworms team had a lot of support at the regional event. Kristin Trippe served as the team coach and other family members as well as Smith and McKnight of the Enchanted Readers were on hand to cheer on the team.

“This shows the great support and sportsmanship that our PES OBOB teams have for each other,” Bell said. “This is the first time we have had a Philomath Elementary School team move on to the state OBOB tournament, so it is very exciting.”

OBOB’s state tournament is scheduled for April 13 at Chemeketa Community College in Salem.

Reading Retrievers win again

At the middle school level (grades 6-8), the Reading Retrievers with sixth-grade team members Alida Benbow, Sophia Brandt, Scarlet Panico and Sarah Workman defeated the Screaming Books on Feb. 22 in the championship round. It’s the fourth straight year that the Reading Retrievers have won a school championship.

“We had a great couple of battles between the Screaming Books and Reading Retrievers,” said Meegan Benbow, eighth-grade social studies and literature teacher who coordinates the Battle of the Books program at the middle school level.

The Reading Retrievers answered all questions correctly in the first battle for a 40-15 win. In the second battle, the competition was much closer with the two teams tied, 20-20, after regulation. They went to a tiebreaker round and the Retrievers pulled out a 30-20 victory.

The runner-up Screaming Books team included Toby Muravez, Samuel Noakes, Evan O’Rourke, Austin Sailor and Spencer Schiminski.

The middle-school competition featured a nighttime championship for the first time.

The Reading Retrievers advanced to the regional competition this past weekend at Timber Ridge School in Albany. There, the Philomath contingent got off to a great start by leading through pool play with 128 points. But the team was eliminated in the Elite Eight round and finished fifth.

This year’s Battle of the Books competition at the middle school featured three teams with 14 students in total participating.

“There was a resurgence in OBOB at the middle school level this year as it had fallen away with COVID-19,” Benbow said. “The students had a slow start in the fall but gained speed in January and February. We had some great pool play battles and a good semifinal battle between the Literary Legends and Screaming Books.”