by Chris Mayhew , [email protected] –
Campbell County High School’s first-place victory in in the quiz matches of the Kentucky Governor’s Cup state finals made them Northern Kentucky’s winningest academic team ever.
“We did it,” Campbell County coach and teacher Christopher Manker said. “Campbell County just won the Governor’s Cup quick recall state championship. They are the first team from Northern Kentucky ever to win a state championship.”
Governor’s Cup was created in 1986 to “promote, recognize and reward outstanding academic achievement,” according to its website kaac.com.
Social studies and math whiz Colton Graham of California, Kentucky, led Campbell County’s Quick Recall quiz match team to win first place in the Quick Recall tournament March 13 in Louisville. Students on quick recall teams face each other with hand-held buzzers to signal they are ready to answer a question in a style similar to longtime television show Jeopardy.
“Quick recall is the only event at academic competition people can come and watch something happen,” co-coach and teacher Donn Manker said. Donn Manker is Christopher Manker’s father.
Graham was Campbell County’s quick recall “field general,” Donn Manker said.
“(He) guided us to the championship with his blazing speed and team guidance,” Manker said.
Second in overall team standings
Campbell County placed second in the overall team standings behind Henderson County High School in Western Kentucky. Highlands High School in Fort Thomas placed 19th in overall standings. Boone County’s Conner High School and and Ryle High School were the only other two Northern Kentucky high school academic teams to finish in top overall standings with a tied overall ranking of 33rd.
A Feb. 26 article examined Campbell County’s friendly rivalry with Simon Kenton High School and academic team culture.
Overall standings factor in students’ written tests scores in math, science, social studies, language arts, arts and humanities, composition and from a future problem solving group exam.
Individual performances on tests helped propel Campbell County beyond its previous best-ever fourth-place overall standings state finals finish in 2016.
• Sophomore Joel Sebastian of Alexandria placed first in math in Kentucky after answering tie-breaking questions with a student from Corbin, Kentucky, who tied with the same score of 44 points out of 50.
• Graham, a senior, scored fourth place in social studies and seventh place in math.
• Mitchell Turner placed fourth in science.
• Nick Padin placed fifth in composition.
Other Northern Kentucky top 10 student scores:
• Highlands High School’s Helen Ross placed third in science.
• Ryle High School’s Glen Stanton placed 10th in arts and humanities.
• Conner High School’s Kyle Addison placed 10th in composition.
For Campbell County, deciding where to put the trophies in the school remains the only unanswered question, Donn Manker said.
“We now have a huge trophy for the quick recall championship and a huge Governor’s Cup trophy for second place in overall points,” he said.
