Defiance and Shawnee took home top honors in the Western Buckeye League Scholastic Bowl Tournament held Friday, May 8, 2026, at The Ohio State University at Lima. This is the third year in a row that Defiance’s varsity team has won the championship title and the fifth of the last seven.
The winning varsity team from Defiance included George English, Chris Brinkman, Zack Wieland, Matthew Walter and Katherine McDonald. The team finished with a perfect 8-0 record, beating the reserve champion team from Shawnee by one point in head-to-head competition. The runner-up varsity team from Shawnee included Jonah Briggs, Georgianna Damschroder, Ezra George, Angie Karapondo and Abigail Zabonik. Shawnee varsity finished with a 6-2 record.
The winning JV team from Shawnee included Smith Collins, Jonny George, Tommy Hedges, Duleeka Kularatne, Yanni Southibounnorath, Jake Thompson and Jackson Wenningand. They finished with a 7-1 record. The runner-up JV team from Celina finished with a 6-2 record and included Katherine Goldsberry, Leon Melendrez, Austin Muether and Liam Stewart.
The Defiance coach is James Kerr and the Shawnee coach is John Young.
The WBL Scholastic Bowl All Tournament Team was chosen by the coaches and made up of one member from each school. The 2026 All Tournament Team members are Lacey Carpenter from Bath, Mischa Snow from Celina, George English from Defiance, Railee Ronshausen from Elida, Presley Wilson from Kenton, Noah Brinkman from Ottawa-Glandorf, Jeremy Bary from St. Marys, Ezra George from Shawnee and Graham Shively from Wapakoneta. English, Brinkman and Shively have earned all-tournament honors in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
High school teams from around western Ohio went head-to-head in the round-robin scholastic bowl tournament. Varsity and junior varsity teams from Bath (Daniel Grime and Lorenzo Salinas), Celina (Chris Wood), Defiance (James Kerr and Jessica Tervino), Elida (Jessica Mason and Emma Waldschmidt), Kenton (Todd Daquino), Ottawa-Glandorf (Joe Jahnz), Shawnee (John Young), St. Marys (Chad Doll), and Wapakoneta (Adam Friemering) competed. Van Wert did not compete. Coaches’ names are in parentheses.
The competition is hosted and sponsored by The Ohio State University at Lima.