Sierra Lutheran defending title in Academic Olympics

Sierra Lutheran and Coleville sprinted out to the lead in the race to represent northwestern Nevada at the Nov. 24th state Academic Olympic competition for small high schools.

The two local high schools rank first and second in the standings following the first of three regional qualifying tournaments held on October 27.

The Falcons of Sierra Lutheran are the four-time defending regional champions and have gone on to win state titles in 2006 and 2007.

After graduating five key members of those highly successful teams, the rest of the league hoped Sierra Lutheran might not be able to maintain its dominance of recent years. At the season's first tournament, however, it appeared as if the Falcons have every intention of competing for another title. Alternating line-ups that included both veterans and rookies, the Falcons won three of the four rounds of competition and tied with Coleville in the other.

Cumulative scores from all three regional tournaments are used to determine the three high schools from this area that advance to the state championships. At the end of the first qualifying event, the team scores were Sierra Lutheran 23.5, Coleville 18, Smith Valley, 14.5, Virginia City 14.5, Gerlach 9, and Pyramid Lake, 4.5.

Members of Sierra Lutheran's 2008 team include seniors Scott Banks, Ben Harms and Jonah Young; juniors Andrew Deterding, Kelly Johnson, Aaron Sever, Jesse Walser-Castro and Nick Winstead; sophomores Sydney Campau and Haley Stokes; and freshmen Jason Deterding, Scott Johnson, Conner Love and Kayla Radzvilowicz.

The second round of regional competition will take place at 1:00 p.m. on Monday at Sierra Lutheran, located at 1617 Water St., Suite S, in Minden. The public is welcome to attend. Call 782-0060 for more information.