OHS knowledge bowl wins first state title
Owatonna’s knowledge bowl team won its first-ever state title last weekend after scoring 157.5 points and beating the rest of the field by 32 points. Team members include, from left: Coach Dean Smith, David Smith, Aiden Engel, Henry Bon, Gavin Caron, Lileigh Nguyen and Coach Dan Saehler. Submitted photo
Owatonna’s knowledge bowl team won its first ever state title in Brainerd last weekend.
The team consisting of Henry Bon, Gavin Caron, Aiden Engel, Lileigh Nguyen and David Smith swept the competition with 157.5 points.
The Huskies’ final score was enough to win by 32 points over Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose and was the third-highest winning point total in state history.
“This was by far I think just one of their overall best performances I’ve ever seen out of them during, not only this year but over their four years at OHS,” said head coach Dan Saehler.
Adding to the excitement of the team's historic win is the fact that Owatonna won the inaugural Class AAA tournament, which was passed last year and began this winter.
The state tournament was a normal knowledge bowl format where teams will compete in a written round answering prompted questions before entering an oral round where they will have to buzz in answers and beat the competition to answers to score points.
According to Saehler, the team’s performance in the written round set it up to be in contention for the state title.
Speaking with the team’s skipper after winning the regional title, his initial thoughts were that the team would need to score anywhere in the 120- to 130-point range to contend for the title.
Owatonna put up a 142.5-point score in regionals and the team had scored as high as 158 previously in their career, so it was no surprise to Saehler that his team was able to accomplish such a feat.
“It’s a testament to the work that they’ve put in to build their team camaraderie and chemistry. They all have their strengths, and it was just amazing to watch. Everything kind of just fell into place. When they were buzzing, they were doing it in the perfect opportunities. They were doing really well with if they did buzz in early, they could figure out where the question was going. It was a perfect storm of everything coming together at the right time,” said Saehler.
All five members of the 2023 team are seniors and will not return in 2024. However, the state title has been even sweeter coming at the pinnacle of their Owatonna careers.