RELEASED: APR. 12, 2022 – Contact: Jim Mehrling 440-463-2557
Headline: OLMSTED FALLS DEFEATS FIRELANDS IN SCHOLASTIC GAMES ACADEMIC QUARTERFINAL
Lorain County’s high school quiz show, the Scholastic Games, now in its 32nd year on WEOL radio (AM930 and FM 100.3), hosted the second of its quarterfinals this week, resulting in a 590 to 100 victory for Olmsted Falls High School. It was the highest winning score of the year. Firelands had a good team but the speed and accuracy of the Falls team proved to be unbeatable. With the exception of next week, weekly broadcasts, Mondays 6 to 7 p.m., will resume on April 26th, continuing through the May 23rd championship
The Olmsted Falls team consisted of Elena Strozewski, David Vidovich, and team captain Jacob O’Connor, who won his second “Standout Scholar Award,” which is 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. The team from Firelands consisted of Rachael Rennie, Nathan Bodak, and Joe Formholtz.
The first round of questions was a warm-up with questions for which the answers began with the letter “D.” Both teams had a strong start, correctly answering four of five questions. Olmsted Falls benefitted with a randomly-placed “plus points” question, providing the team with a 50 to 40 point lead. Both teams were challenged in the Current Events round, but Falls managed to add 30 points to Firelands’ ten. Buzzers come out for the third round, giving advantage to the quicker team which turned out to be Olmsted Falls. The round, with a theme of bodies of water ranging from the Black Sea to the Pacific Ocean, ended with a 180 to 50 point advantage for Olmsted Falls.
Round four consists of a series of clues for each answer. A correct answer to a first clue yields fifty points, with diminishing point values for up to four additional clues, the last of which is ten points. Scientist Robert Hooke stumped both teams, but Olmsted Falls performed the rate feat of running the rest of the round, scoring 30 points with Falkland Islands, 40 for Veterans Day, 20 for Herbert Hoover, and 10 for Santa Anna.
The final round of more than nine minutes of tossup and bonus questions was just frosting on the cake for Falls. Firelands managed to add 50 points, but Olmsted Falls added over 300 for an exceptional ending to the contest. Weekly broadcasts will end in May with the program’s 32nd annual County Academic Championship. Following broadcast the station archives the programs online (http://weol.northcoastnow.com/2022-lorain-county-scholastic-games/ ). Additional archives are available at http://standoutscholars.com .
Here is the schedule of upcoming programs, subject to further modification if there are conflicts with live sports coverage.
4/18 – A special rebroadcast of the exciting Amherst-Avon match from February – both teams advanced to the quarterfinals; 4/25—Quarterfinal #3: Amherst vs. Brookside;5/2—Quarterfinal #4: Avon vs. Keystone; 5/9, 5/16, 5/23 – Semifinals and Championship
Among the twelve different schools that have won Scholastic Games championships, Olmsted Falls (in 2011, 12, 13, 14, and 18) and Elyria High School (in 1992, 93, 94, 97, and 2000), have won the most. The other semifinalist team, Lake Ridge Academy, won in 2021 and earlier championships in 2006 and 2010. Three of our remaining quarterfinalist teams are also from past champion schools, Avon (2009, 16, 17, 19), Amherst Steele (1991, 2015), and Keystone (2004). Brookside in Sheffield Village is seeking its first championship. Other past champions not among finalists this year are Avon Lake (2001, 05, and 20), Admiral King (1995, 1998, now closed), Oberlin (1996), North Ridgeville (1999, 2002), Midview (2003) and Vermilion in (2007, 08).
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