Wakulla County Students Place 3rd Overall in Chess Championship

Seven Riversprings players , fourteen Shadeville players and 14 chaperones traveled to the 2008 North Florida Regional Scholastic Chess Championship in Citra, Florida.  Wakulla County, which has never competed in a chess tournament, entered in 3 team categories:  K3, 2nd and 3rd grade, K5, 4th and 5th grade, and K8,  6th – 8th grade.

As unrated teams, Wakulla started at the bottom and had to fight their way up. The K8 middle school team jumped to 2nd place through Round 3, lead by Jake Hunter in 6th place and Zack Nordlof in 7th.  They lost Round four, (their last round) which dropped them out of the individual trophy contention.

The K5 section team played to 4th place through Round 3.  Eight of the 10 players won their last round, putting them in 3rd place.  The small, yet formidable, K3 section team played similarly, playing to 4th place through Round 3.  Two of their four players won in the last round, which raised them to 3rd place.

“Our players showed incredible sportsmanship and tenacity in this first tournament. They represented Wakulla County Schools well!” said Mrs. Marlene Adams, Wakulla County Chess Club Teacher Sponsor, RMS.  Only the top three teams per section received trophies and Wakulla took 3rd place in all 3 sections entered. 

“We could not have been prouder, as all three sections of Wakulla players ran on stage for their team trophies while the parents cheered, “W-A-K-U-L-L-A, WAKULLA, WAKULLA, ALL THE WAY”!” said Jennifer Briggs, Chess Club Volunteer.

The players are:  Section K-8:  JoeyBriggs, Mathue Briggs, HunterDeRoss, AdamEvens, Jake Hunter, Cole Irvin and Zack Nordlof.  Section K-5:  John Ahrendt, Mitch Atkinson, GageChance, Brett DeRoss, Maria Parmer, J.P. Piotrowski, Aaron Price, Jamie Wheeler, Kaylyn Worthington, and Matthew Zdrazil.  Section K-3:  Lucas Briggs, Bryce Cole, Brian, Gilmore, and John Patton.

- Submitted by Jennifer Briggs; Photo courtesy of Jennifer Briggs

This article originally published on February 7, 2008.

Written by :

mkwestmark

 

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