Knowledge bowl takes on state

Owatonna High School’s knowledge bowl team will make its third consecutive trip to the state tournament in Brainerd this April after winning the regional tournament earlier this month.

The Huskies’ top team of Henry Bon, Gavin Caron, Aiden Engel, Lileigh Nguyen, and David Smith have represented Owatonna all three years at state and are looking to bring back some hardware to the school trophy case.

“It’s been an absolute blessing to watch and coach them. They have this aura to them that’s like, ‘Hey, we’re here to have fun, but we’re also pretty good at this,’” said Saehler.

After finishing in 11^th place in 2021 and third in 2022, the group will look to take home their first state title this season.

The five seniors will have their final hoorah at state, and head coach Dan Saehler is feeling good about his team’s chances.

According to Saehler, the team will likely have to aim for a score in the 120- to 130-point range in order to put themselves in line for the win.

Having already put up a 142.5-point performance at the regional tournament, the Huskies are more than capable of putting up some major scores.

In fact, the team has previously scored as high as 158 points – more than enough to get the job done.

Possibly just as interesting as the team’s extensive knowledge across a multitude of topics is how the squad came together.

According to Saehler – who began coaching the same year all five joined – the team was not hand-picked, but rather formed organically.

“I didn’t want to have too much of an influence on whom they chose to partner with. I wanted it to be equal parts fun and challenging. They decided to partner up and it’s worked out pretty well,” said Saehler with a laugh.

Those looking to make the trek north to Brainerd can find the team competing at Cragun’s Resort beginning on Thursday, April 13.