The ACHS Academic team received first place in the Governor’s Cup District competition on Saturday for the eighth year in a row. The team also set a school record by earning the maximum number of individual qualifies to advance to the regional competition.
The team stormed through all rounds of quick recall to capture first place and defend their reputation as one of southern Kentucky’s best teams on the buzzers. In addition, the Future Problem Solving team swept all judges’ top rankings for first place in their competition.
In six different testing areas, each team is allowed to enter up to three competitors. The top five out of all combined schools’ representatives in each written assessment category then advance to region. ACHS accomplished the feat of getting all 18 out of the 18 eligible slots for regional qualification.
The team has been a powerhouse in each of the written assessments over the past decade, earning an impressive 16 or 17 slots for each of the past several years, but a clean sweep of all available regional qualifications is a first for the school and is very rare for any district competition across the state throughout Governor’s Cup history. This year also marked the widest margin of victory at district in the school’s history.
Out of the six individual events, Adair County competitors had first place rankings in five out of the six categories.
Senior Heather Jackson led the charge in both language arts and arts and humanities. Jackson earned first place in both events with one of the top scores statewide on the language arts assessment. Jackson is also the captain and lone senior on the quick recall team. This was Jackson’s second district championship in both categories. She has also qualified for region in a category for all four years of high school and has been a state finalist in language arts since her sophomore year.
Fellow varsity quick recall starters Matt Rogers, Timothy Watson and Brittany Curry advanced to region in their respective categories. Rogers stayed right on the heels of teammate Jackson in arts and humanities with a second place finish this year. Rogers qualified for region last year in the same event. The ACHS junior made the switch from language arts—which he qualified in last year as well—to social studies this year and finished third place in that event. Timothy Watson’s debut in the top five was an impressive one, as he finished first place in science for the team. Completing the team’s well-rounded quick recall representatives was Brittany Curry who finished second in mathematics in her first year as a high school regional qualifier.
Adair relied heavily upon individual test-takers not part of the Quick Recall starting arsenal to complete the team’s district sweep in awards.
Jessi Taylor completed the trifecta of qualifying for region in three individual areas. Taylor won the composition district championship and finished behind teammates Heather Jackson and Matt Rogers for third place in arts and humanities. The ACHS sophomore also finished fourth in language arts.
Yet another exceptional achievement occurred in language arts as aspiring quick recall player Rebecca Montgomery tested in language arts and advanced to region by notching a second place finish in the event in only her first year as a high school freshman, thus setting her up for the potential to accomplish the four-year string of qualifications for region throughout high school.
Cody Giles debuted as both a math test-taker and composition competitor and qualified in both events by winning the math district championship and getting second place in composition. Noah Richard competed in his first year for the high school team and finished in second place in both social studies and science. Thomas Murrell made his debut as a competitor in social studies and earned a trip to region with a fourth place finish in the category. Alan Godsey helped complete the ACHS individual qualifications for region by placing fifth in science.
The Future Problem Solving Team focused on the topic of robotic age at the district level. With the team’s championship, they now earn the right to compete at region under the topic of Megacities. Future Problem Solving members include Emmalee Baker, Kyle Castaneda, Sarah McQuaide, Amber Turner and Roslin Wilson.
In addition to being a part of four years of district championships throughout high school, senior Emmalee Baker doubled up this year and advanced to region as an individual competitor in composition by getting third place in the event.
Regional championships will be held on Feb. 12 and 16 at Greenwood High School in Bowling Green. Accompanying the quick recall team and written assessment winners at region and seeking to contribute to sustaining the future success of the team are Eli Jackson, Austin Bradshaw, Zane Sanders, and Treyton Grant. Adair now enters the next phase of competition where they have the distinction of being a 5th region champion in a team event for the past eight consecutive years.