Andy Berrell

Sports Editor

March Madness is officially over, and The 1 seed the University of Virginia is the 2019 National Champion. This was the polar-opposite result compared with last year’s Virginia team, also a 1 seed, who lost in the first round to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, a 16 seed. Facing off against Texas Tech, this was the first time in 40 years that either of these teams competed in the National Championship game. The final score was 85-77.

As for the students of OHS competing in Sparty’s March Madness, none of them could have accurately predicted how this tournament was going to unfold. In fact, not one bracket correctly predicted the Final Four, the National Championship game, or even Virginia as the winner of the tournament.

Surprisingly, there were only 6 brackets that improved in score after the Final Four, all of which selected Virginia to be in the National Championship game. But unfortunately, each one of those brackets had Virginia losing to Duke or to another powerhouse team.

The National Championship game itself was something of a thriller. Perhaps one of the least scoring first halves occurred, then followed by an electric second half full of lead changes and clutch baskets. It eventually came down to the wire and the game went into overtime. This was the first time in 11 years that a National Championship game went into overtime, and it had all viewers at the edge of their seats until the Cavaliers pulled away from the Red Raiders in the last 2 minutes of the 5 minute overtime.

Most of the scores in the bracket contest remained unchanged, but the few that had Virginia going far improved vastly. Here is a new list of every bracket and their final score. If you placed in the top 3, please come to Mrs. Herring’s room during snack break on Friday the 12th to receive your prize!

90 – Isabella Koch

85 – Aaron Kleinman

84 – Mikayla Burns

83 – Noah Arneson

82 – Jamie Bazil

81 – Preston Perrill

80 – Justin O. Grade 10 (Can’t read your name)

79 – Rae Malik

78 – Eli Herman

77 – Maddie Combs

77 – Katie Udell

76 – Ryan Kovalik

74 – Finn Soderstrom

72 – Mrs. Herring

72 – Cade Pfeiffer

71 – Mr. Herring

70 – Owen Pilot

69 – Mitch Clear

69 – Billy McGannon

68 – Sarah Gustafson

68 – Shea Albrecht

67- Graham Beltrand

67 – Ellie Fasbender

66 – Franz Jevne

65 – Anika Sodhi

65 – Tillie H.

64 – Aislinn Mobley

63 – Mark Sarles

62 – Tyler Nyquist

62 – Isabel Scharf

62 – Nick Hartmann

61 – Zach Adams

61 – Lily Maas

60 – Morgan Reeves

58 – Danny Eckerline

57 – Nick Ruhland

57 – Jazmine Borreson

55 – Trudan Swiler

53 – Brady Pitts

52 – Charlie Ellis

51 – Margaret Kraus

50 – Simon Rice

50 – Caroline Robson

50 – Jacob Muth

47 – Ms. McCabe

44 – Hannah Thillman

44 – Mitch Adams

43 – Ashley Hemstock