The Junior High Chess Team capped an undefeated 2022-23 season on Saturday, March 11, by winning the Junior High Division of the Kansas Scholastic Chess Championships in Emporia.
In a section numbering over 100 players, the TMP 7th and 8th Graders started off to an early lead, then never trailed afterwards, ultimately finishing with 18 team points, 1.5 points ahead of 2nd Place Royster Middle School of Chanute (16.5), and 2.5 points ahead of 3rd Place Washburn Rural Middle School of Topeka(15.5). In 4th Place was Robinson Middle School of Topeka (15), 5th was Prairie Trail Middle School of Olathe (15), 6th was Liberty Memorial Middle School of Lawrence (14.5), 7th was Allison Traditional of Wichita (13.5), 8th was Riley County Middle School (12.5), 9th was Frontenac Middle School (12.5), and 10th was Independence Middle School (10). Over 25 schools were represented, most of which are larger schools than TMP-Marian!
Individually, 7th Grader Cade Schlautman led the team scoring with 5 wins and one loss, placing 10th overall. 8th Grader Carson Pinkney placed 14th with 4 wins, one loss, and one draw, as did 7th Grader Colby Schmeidler, who placed 17th on tiebreaks. 7th Graders Zack Billinger and Evan Staab won 4 games each, with 2 losses, placing 26th and 33rd respectively. The top four scores of the team, 5, 4.5, 4.5, and 4 made up the total team score of 18 points. The rest of the team, 8th Grader Mattias Marintzer, 7th Graders Ethan Gibson, Dylan Billinger, and Marcus Stahl, each scored 3 wins and 3 losses, itself a respectable finish in State competition.
In the High School division, TMP took a team of two; 9th Grader Blaise Staab scored 4 wins, one draw, and one loss to take 18th in another field of over a hundred, and 9th Grader Eli Stein scored 3 wins and 3 losses. The top high school teams were: 1st--Lawrence Free State (20 points), 2nd--Chanute (18.5), 3rd--Washburn Rural (16.5), 4th--Lawrence High (16.5), 5th--Wichita South (15.5), 6th--Frontenac (15.5), 7th--Olathe South (15), 8th--Bishop Carroll (14.5), 9th--Northeast High of Arma (14), and 10th--Leavenworth (10.5).