In an epic battle of literary knowledge, Timber Ridge Elementary School won a super-close finish Thursday in the Killeen ISD Battle of the Books.
Saegert Elementary School finished in second place and Maxdale Elementary School finished in third place.
In all, 21 schools fielded teams with up to five players on each team answering questions culled from 20 award-winning books.
Each team competed at their individual school, listening by Zoom as KISD District Instructional Technologist Kiree Bons facilitated the event, providing 50 multiple choice questions.
The competition divided between two sessions of 25 questions each. The team members worked together to come up with each answer, taking up to 30 seconds on each question.
After the first half, Maxdale Elementary was in first place, followed by Timber Ridge and Reeces Creek.
Following a break, the second session began and second-place Timber Ridge and fourth-place Saegert Elementary began rising through the ranks, taking the first and second places after 10 questions.
In the end, Bons announced the top three finishers, sparking celebrations, first at Maxdale, then at Saegert and finally, at Timber Ridge.
Timber Ridge coaches Janet Shelley and Taylor Acker and Librarian Charlynn Loeffler praised their seven-member team for preparing well, reading all 20 books.
The students began preparation at the start of the school year and re-read some books later in the year.
The five main team members at Timber Ridge were all fifth-graders who all participated last year when Timber Ridge finished in third place.
They included Andres Aviles Madrigal, Yahvieth Mulero, Rocio Reyes, Yahir Reyes, and Diego Rodriguez. Alternates were Angelina Verdicia and Katelynn Jongmans.
Saegert Librarian Lara Sursa praised her team that finished in second place.
Her top team members also read all 20 books and re-read many of them. The school’s book club included about 25 students this year.
The ones who competed among the top 5 were Journee Robinson, Lucia Cabrera, Vivian Tibbitts, Vivinne Gatrell, and Nalaya Adams.
“It was challenging,” said Madrigal at Timber Ridge. “There was so much excitement. It was crazy.”
Mulero said he was confident the team would be well positioned to win. Yahir Reyes said he was nervous.
The Reyes said the team worked hard to read all the books and quizzed each other.
