Friday, March 19, 2010

ARCHDIOCESE — Catholic schools from throughout the archdiocese have been competing in the Greater Cincinnati Academic League (GCAL).

This year’s league included Alter, Chaminade-Julienne, Elder, Fenwick, LaSalle, McAuley, McNicholas, Mercy, Moeller, Oldenburg, Purcell Marian, Roger Bacon, Seton, St. Xavier, St. Ursula and Ursuline. Each school had a varsity team, most had a reserve team and several even fielded a freshman squad, allowing more than 200 students to participate the league’s four month long competition season.

Sixteen schools participated in the GCAL as they tried to qualify for the regional competition to be held at Cincinnati State on April 24. Questions in these competitions range across all academic areas from science to history, philosophy to literature, math to geography and everything in between.

Competing one-on-one, in question/ answer competitions, Elder, Chaminade-Julienne, Fenwick, and Moeller have qualified to compete in the Cincinnati Regional of the Ohio Academic Competition. Moeller and Fenwick qualified by winning pre-season and post-season tournaments respectively, while Elder and Chaminade-Julienne became regional qualifiers as the two divisional winners. If any of these schools finish first or second in the regional, they will qualify for the state competition to be held in Columbus in May.

The league coaches have chosen the following students for special recognition as a result of their performance throughout the season:

GCAL All Academic 1st Team
• Julia Tasset — Ursuline Academy
• Michael Manovich — Chaminade-Julienne High School
• James Inwood — Fenwick High School
• Mariele Fluegeman — Mother of Mercy High School
• Colleen Good — Purcell Marian High School
• Dylan Neu — LaSalle High School
• Andrew Condia — Elder High School
• Chloe Rivir — Roger Bacon High School

GCAL All Academic 2nd Team
• Jim Hess — Alter High School
• El Asa Crawford — McAuley High School
• David Benson— Oldenburg Academy of the Immaculate Conception
• Rachel Schwind — St. Ursula High School
• Alex Parra — Moeller High School
• Taylor Hensle —Seton High School
• Matt Johnson — McNicholas High School
• Charles Hinckley — St. Xavier High School

As the coaches of the GCAL look to the future, it is hoped that the league will include even more schools next year. They hope to allow many students to participate in a competitive and academic fashion.