Havre Principal's Cup team qualifies for state competition

It took fighting back out of the loser's bracket at a double-elimination tournament in Great Falls, but a team of Havre High School students has earned a trip to the state Principal's Cup academic tournament in Missoula in April.

Senior Trent Huestis, junior Paul Jeffrey, senior Trygg Moog, sophomore Lynnea Bosch and freshman Arjan Pokharel fought back from a first-round loss to battle their way to third place, finally losing to the team from Great Falls' C. M. Russell High School, the team that went on to win first place.

Havre's other team, senior Kristi Hickman, senior Lauren Scofield, junior Savanna Belcourt, sophomore Cassie Rennick and freshman Trey Scofield, put up a valiant effort but lost the first two rounds and were put out of competition, though the students made a play at individual awards.

Belcourt tied for the fifth-highest overall score, while Jeffrey and Moog tied with each other for the second-highest.

Havre's third-place team started with a loss to Simms, but came back to beat the No. 2 Fairfield team, the No. 2 Conrad team, the No. 1 Chinook team, the No. 1 Power team, the No. 1 CMR team and the No. 1 Conrad team before losing to the No. 2 CMR team.

The team members take a 100-question multiple-choice test online the week before the tournament with their composite scores used for seeding. The Havre teams were seeded second and third.

Each round at the tournament, the teams answer 16 questions from areas including math, science, English and literature, and social sciences. They receive five points for each correct answer and lose two points for each incorrect answer.