By Jay Compton

jay.compton@middlesboronews.com

 

The Middlesboro High School academic team is the 2024 13th Region Governor’s Cup champion. They came out ahead of a field of schools that included North Laurel, South Laurel, Somerset, Southwestern, Corbin, Wayne County and Pulaski County.

“I’m super proud of the kids and their hard work and the effort they’ve put into it,” MHS academic team coach Richie Rogers said.

He said winning the region this year came as a bit of a surprise because the team is so young with just one senior.

“We competed in our regular season during the fall and ended up going undefeated. Then we won the district in January and the regional championship last weekend — It just all kind of came together last week,” Rogers said.

MHS got first place finishes from their Future Problem Solving team (Taylor Goodman, Faith Green, Izabella Owens and Emily Mason) and from Sammie Lin in Arts and Humanities. Their Quick Recall team (Madilynn Jackson, Sammie Lin, Quentin Robertson, Alyssa Mullins and Aiden Spencer) placed second, Linn placed second in Science, Madilynn Jackson placed third and Alyssa Mullins fourth in Language Arts, Jackson placed third in Arts and Humanities and Taylor Goodman tied for fourth in Composition.

Middlesboro earned 33.5 points to claim first place while North Laurel was second with 31 points and South Laurel third with 20.

It’s Middlesboro’s fist Regional Governor’s Cup title since they won four straight from 2016-19.

“I had coached the high school academic team up until 2020, then COVID hit and everything kind of went crazy. I took a break and this is my first year back,” Rogers said.

Rogers was helped by assistant coach Laura Gambrel and FPS coach Caroline Chadwell.

 

Region 13 Governor’s Cup Results

Overall Final Standings

1st Middlesboro High School (33.5 points), 2nd North Laurel (31), 3rd South Laurel (20), 4th Somerset (9), 5th Southwestern (8.5), 6th Corbin (7), 7th Wayne County (4), 8th Pulaski County (4), 9th Bell County (3), 9th Barbourville (3), 11th Whitley County (1).

Quick Recall

1st North Laurel, 2nd Middlesboro, 3rd South Laurel, 4th Bell County, 5th Somerset, 5th Southwestern, 6th Corbin, 6th Whitley County.

Future Problem Solving

1st Middlesboro, 2nd Somerset, 3rd Pulaski County, 4th South Laurel, 5th North Laurel, 6th Bell County, 7th Corbin, 8th Whitley County.

Mathematics

1st Alpha Pham (North Laurel), 2nd Jo Owaki (South Laurel), 3rd Andrew Wolke (Southwestern), 4th Reese Blakeman (Somerset), 5th Matthew Hines (Pulaski County).

Science

1st Alpha Pham (North Laurel), 2nd Sammie Lin (Middlesboro), 3rd Adrianne Couch (North Laurel), 4th Green Meadows (North Laurel), 5th Isaiah Massengale (Whitley County).

Social Studies 

1st Alex Looney (South Laurel), 2nd Sam Elliott (Corbin), 3rd Samuel Moore  (Barbourville), 4th Quentin Roberton (Middlesboro), 5th Will Holder (Bell County), 5th Chandler Wolke (Southwestern).

Language Arts

1st Nikki Shah (South Laurel), Jane Locke (North Laurel), 3rd Madilynn Jackson (Middlesboro), 4th Alyssa Mullins (Middlesboro), 5th Caroline Horn (Somerset).

Arts and Humanities

1st Sammie Lin (Middlesboro), 2nd Adrianne Couch (North Laurel), 3rd Madilynn Jackson (Middlesboro), 4th Kadence Whitaker (South Laurel), 5th Caroline Horn (Somerset).

Composition

1st Morgan Mounce (Southwestern), 2nd Caleb Cook (Wayne County), 3rd Julia Greer (Corbin), 4th Ashlyn Stewart (Bell County), 4th Taylor Goodman (Middlesboro).