It happens in the big leagues and it happened in the National Academic League. Little glitches in the process made the difference. Tuesday, Granite District's Bennion Junior High School lost the first national championship competition in the league's history by two points and amid some frustration.
As the buzzer ended the competition with the score at 36-34, the winners from Thompson Intermediate School in Pasadena, Texas, set up a joyous hullabaloo that was electronically transmitted to the offices of AT&T in Salt Lake City where the subdued Bennion team accepted second place.The docking of two points because Bennion mentor Lori Crawford communicated with her team (not supplying answers but violating the letter of the league's rules) killed the championship hopes in the final round and saw the first-ever top place trophy go south. Confusion over a question in the last seconds also cost the Granite team an opportunity to recoup.
The actual question that put Bennion out of the running had to do with the changing of seasons. Team leader Joey Katz missed on two of the four dates that mark the solstices and equinoxes. The next question posed by the Granite judge, Marilyn Kier, apparently was out of sequence with those held by her counterpart in Pasadena and - the rest is history.
After a few tears and some crestfallen faces, the Bennion team remembered what it had accom-plished this year - beaten 13 other junior high school teams in Granite District and teams from Texas and Florida en route to the championship round - and the students graciously accepted second place and the medals denoting their success."Bennion had a tremendous year," said T. H. Bell, former U.S. secretary of education, who conceived of the junior high school scholastic competition as a way to put academics on a par with athletics.
Bell extended long-distance congratulations to Henry Morse, commissioner of the Texas com-pe-ti-tion, who was sharing the high spot with the Pasadena scholars. This year, students in eight states vied for the scholastic awards.
The Granite team did particularly well with a segment in problem-solving. The teams had been asked to contemplate America's financial problems and suggest tax structures that would address the problems.
Bennion suggested several alternatives, including transient room taxes, aviation taxes, resort area sales taxes and cigarette/alcohol taxes.
Members of the Bennion team are Joey Katz, Justin Elliss, Matt Smith, Cherilyn Cunningham, Shawn Owen, Laura Simper, Kelly Dalton, Chris Gibson, Jessa Moser, Jessica Earl, Megan Bath, Jessica Carlson, Emma Elliot, Cami Fas-selin, Katie Lusty, Camie Platt, Sarah Wall, Kristine Withers, Camille Woodland and David Lignell. Jayda Pitkin is the alternate.