The final match of the Academic Olympics season came to a close with Venice High School overtaking reigning champion Pine View during an intense battle on April 1, 2017. The 36th year of the competition ended with the Venice Indians taking home the “Culture Vulture” trophy with a final score of 228-198 over the Pine View Pythons. The 2017 Academic Olympics Program was sponsored by the Dart Foundation. The Venice Chapter of the American Association of University Women and the Sarasota Branch of the Military Officers Association of America were also supporters and sponsors of the program.
Three prior rounds of competition were held January – March 2017, featuring top players from eight area high schools culminating in the finals match held April, 2017, at The Landings. At the end of the “winner takes all” event, the final standings were: Venice High School (228), Pine View School (198), Riverview High School (174), Cardinal Mooney (148), Sarasota High School (110) and Sarasota Polytechnical High School (108).
An All-Star team of participants nominated by participating coaches will represent Sarasota County in the statewide Commissioner’s Academic Challenge at Walt Disney World, April 27-29, 2017. This year’s team includes David Ervin (Sarasota), Mo Glickman (Pine View), Liam Hines (Venice), Caroline Hobson (Cardinal Mooney), Bailey Jordan (Venice) and Julia Rohrbacher (Riverview). Good luck, students!