An academic team coach from Helias Catholic High School was recently named a coach of the year.
Hannah Cavanaugh was named the Class 4 High School Academic Team Coach of the Year by the Missouri Academic Coaches Association, according to a Dec. 11 news release from Helias.
Cavanaugh started at Helias in 2016 and teaches algebra.
The Missouri Academic Coaches Association - which has coaches and non-coaches as members - honors one coach a year from each Missouri State High School Activities Association class "who has shown they have gone above and beyond the normal requirements of their job description, exemplified by their level of involvement with the sport and also by the development and progress of their team," according to the news release.
Academic team competitions - also known as quiz bowl - involve 20-question matches, with each question worth 10 or 15 points. The team that answers a question correctly first gets control of a three-part bonus question worth 10 points. Each player often has a specialty body of knowledge he or she focuses on - such as music, art or sports - but some act as utility players, too.
According to MACA, "Cavanaugh demonstrated winning qualities by spending many Saturdays taking the Helias Catholic team to tournaments (including a weekend at a national tournament in Atlanta, Georgia). The Helias Catholic Academic Team also improved in their development from the beginning of the year until the end of the year. (Cavanaugh's) dedication to the team made her an easy choice as the Class 4 Coach of the Year."
In 2018, Helias' academic team took third place of eight at MSHSAA's state championship and traveled to Atlanta over Memorial Day weekend to compete at National Academic Quiz Tournaments LLC's High School National Championship Tournament.
The team placed 97th out of 304 at nationals in 2017, and improved to place 77th out of 352 in 2018.
"These kids have really worked hard over the off season, definitely have gotten better since last year (and) came back with a fire their senior year, ready to go," Cavanaugh said of the Helias varsity team with five then-seniors in May before the team left for Georgia.
"We're about to lose all of them," she said, adding it's "going to be tough, but I have hopes for these incoming juniors and sophomores," who have been given tips from the seniors.
Helias' academic team-A has since placed eighth of 24 at the Missouri Fall Academic Tournament at Columbia on Oct. 20, and fourth of 24 at the
Hallsville Fall Academic Tournament VI on Oct. 27.
"We feel incredibly fortunate to have Ms. Cavanaugh on our faculty," Helias Catholic Principal Kenya Fuemmeler said. "She is an asset to our team and is a spiritual leader. She has shown tremendous dedication to her students, her coworkers and our school, both in and out of the classroom."