RELEASED MAR. 8, 2022 Contact: Jim Mehrling 440-463-2557
Headline: HIGHEST SCORE OF THE SEASON GIVES LAKE RIDGE SOLID VICTORY OVER AVON LAKE ON SCHOLASTIC GAMES QUIZ PROGRAM
Lake Ridge Academy bolstered its status as defending champion by defeating a strong academic team from Avon Lake High School in this week’s broadcast of Lorain County’s high school quiz show, the Scholastic Games, now in its 32nd year on WEOL radio (AM930 and FM 100.3). The program, presented weekly on Mondays from 6-7 p.m., exhibited strong performances from both schools, but ended in a 510 to 210 win for Lake Ridge.
Lake Ridge was represented by Sereena Sperry, team captain Tyler Young, and Finn Pasatta, who won the program’s “Standout Scholar Award,” presented each week by judges to the student determined to have contributed the most to his or her team. The honor includes a $50 award. Young was a four-time “Standout” last year. The team from Avon Lake consisted of Will Bryan, Mikhail Pyltsov, and team captain Dylan Missal.
The first round presented some challenging questions with answers beginning with the letter “D” ranging from diphtheria to John Dean. It ended with a 40 to 20 point lead for Lake Ridge. The Current Events Round had equivalent results, ending with a 80 to 40 point LRA advantage. The third round was the first to use buzzers, giving the advantage to the team responding first, and it was dominated by Lake Ridge, ending with a 140 to 50 score.
The fourth round presents a series of clues for each answer, with a correct answer to a first clue yielding fifty points, with diminishing point values for up to four additional clues, the last of which is ten points. It was Avon Lake’s highest scoring round, including the only 50 point score after answering the state of Delaware following the first clue which mentioned its founding name of “New Sweden.” The team scored another forty when it identified the Panama Canal after hearing a quotation of Teddy Roosevelt. Unfortunately for Avon Lake, Lake Ridge managed two forty point answers to clues about Oliver Cromwell and the Spanish American War and thirty points from a clue from the early life of George Washington, outscoring their opponents even in this round.
The pattern continued in the final round, a timed affair including bonus 20-point questions after correct answers. Avon Lake turned in a respectable performance but Lake Ridge provided an unbeatable barrage of correct answers ending in the year’s highest final score so far.
The broadcasts will end in May with the 32nd annual County Academic Championship. Playoffs will include all winning teams and the highest-scoring runner-up teams as well, competing as “wild cards” prior to quarterfinals in April. Following broadcast the station archives the programs online (http://weol.northcoastnow.com/2022-lorain-county-scholastic-games/ ).
Scholastic Games began in the fall of 1990 with the support of Nordson Corporation and has continued on radio station WEOL during every school year since. The format, originally developed for a Cleveland program in the 1980s, has changed little in the run of the show, though the questions are continually updated. Scholastic Games is the longest-running program of its type in the region, and its focus on greater Lorain County has provided maximum opportunities for local students to compete.
There is just one more competition in the first round broadcast schedule, to be followed by playoffs among teams to be determined by first-round scores. Programs air between 6 and 7 p.m. on Mondays, subject to modification if conflicts with live sports coverage occur:.
3/14 Elyria vs. Vermilion
3/21, 3/28– Quarterfinal Qualifying Competitions
4/4, 4/11, 4/18, 4/25 – Quarterfinals
5/9, 5/16, 5/23 – Semifinals and Championship
Over the years, twelve different schools have won the championships. Lake Ridge Academy’s 2021 win was its third (with earlier wins in 2006 and 2010). Avon Lake won the honors in 2001, 2005, and 2020. Other championship winners have included Amherst Steele (1991, 2015), Elyria (1992, 93, 94, 97, 2000), Admiral King (1995, 1998), Oberlin (1996), North Ridgeville (1999, 2002), Midview (2003), Keystone (2004), Vermilion (2007, 08), Avon (2009, 16, 17,19), and Olmsted Falls (2011, 12, 13, 14, 18).
The program has enjoyed long-term support from Nordson Corporation and various funds of the Community Foundation, this year including the Steve Boyza Fund, the Patsie C. Campana Sr. Fund, the Schaeffer Family Fund, The Stumphauzer, O’Toole, McLaughlin, McGlamery & Loughman Co. Fund, the “Touch the Future” Fund, the Al Hillegass Fund, the Ford MacArthur Endowment Fund and the Madeleyn Metzger Fund. Additional support is from the Nord Family Foundation and the Community West Foundation. The radio sponsors this year are EcoTree Services and the Elyria Public Library System, which has provided venue space for program sessions for several years.
Area colleges and universities participate by providing $1000 tuition credit awards for allocation by participating high schools. Participating for all or most of the program’s thirty-year history were Lorain County Community College, Oberlin College, Ursuline College, Ashland University, Heidelberg University, John Carroll University, with more recent additional awards from the University of Findlay, Lake Erie College, Tiffin University and Notre Dame College of Ohio.
The program’s host and producer, Jim Mehrling, is a veteran northeast Ohio broadcaster. After seven years as Chief Announcer at WEOL, he was Production Manager for, first, Cleveland’s WERE-AM and later at Cleveland’s WCLV-FM. He was recipient of a 2019 President’s Award from the Cleveland Association of Broadcasters. Again this year, most Scholastic Games programs will be followed by a talk feature, “Dialogues in Education,” which presents education success stories with its host, award-winning journalist Bob Tayek.
BROADCAST ON AM 930 – WEOL – From MEHRLING STUDIOS, BEREA, OH, 44017-2449, Telephone 440-463-2557