CVU adds banners to embarrassment of title riches in school gym

Champlain Valley Union High is faced with a problem other schools would probably like to have: Where to hang all the championship banners?

It’s a growing problem at CVU where the gym is running out of space for all the banners from state championships won over the years. And the school’s scholars bowl team isn’t making the problem any easier.

CVU’s scholars bowl team won its second state title this year in as many years. It was its fourth over the last 24 years (2007, 2022, 2024 and 2025).

The Redhawks took their state title to Atlanta over the Memorial Day weekend where they competed on the national stage against schools from all over the country and acquitted themselves in impressive fashion, coming in 65th out of 336 teams.

Early in this year’s competition, CVU went up against New Trier High from Illinois, a school that has been touted as one of the best public schools in the United States by at least two national publications over the decades.

The Redhawks vanquished that team and others from Virginia, Tennessee, California, Ohio and Alabama, which included some of the nation’s best at competing on the gridiron of erudition.

On the way to the second playoff round at the nationals, the Redhawks scholar bowlers compiled a .667 winning percentage, the best ever recorded by a Vermont school at the biggest of scholars bowl tournaments, surpassing the state record CVU set in 2011 with a .625 winning percentage.

Behind the success of Champlain Valley’s scholars bowl teams over the past two decades is coach John Bennett.

Rahn Fleming, who coached the Redhawks to the state title in 2022 and an undefeated season this year, that could be the best high school football season in Vermont history by taking the state title while outscoring opponents by 400 points, has said that Bennett’s scholars bowl team wins over the years may be more than any other coach in CVU history. That’s quite an achievement at a school where state title banners sprout like dandelions in May.

Bennett downplays that speculation, noting that over the years his scholars bowl teams have had more opportunities to rack up wins than coaches in other sports. For example, the scholars bowl team this year played in 54 games, while most years football teams play around 11 games, but he does admit that his winning percentage is “pretty good.”

After 24 years Bennett is retiring after this year and during his tenure his teams have had a “pretty good” record of 858 wins, 222 losses and two ties for an almost 80-percent winning average.

Team member Leah Rauch said she thinks one of the reasons Bennett has excelled as a coach is the way he motivates his players through positive reinforcement.

Early at the nationals, Rauch said she was doubting herself and dwelling on questions she got wrong, but Bennett told her, “It doesn’t matter if you got it wrong. Just move on to the next one and try to do the best you can.”

At least four times in during the weekend, Bennett remind her of what a good person she is.

It helps that Bennett has “such a strong personality, and also because he brings people cookies quite a lot,” she said.

Besides having a team whose members excel in different areas of knowledge that complement each other, one of the Redhawks’ big strengths is they all have little random things they remember from childhood, Rauch said.

With Bennett retiring, assistant coach Kiran MacCormick is the heir apparent to that position, but it won’t be known for sure until coaching positions for next year are announced. He is certainly a strong candidate; besides being with the team since 2021 and part of two state titles, MacCormick was on Jeopardy! two years ago.

He enjoyed the experience of being on Jeopardy! Although it didn’t change his life, it’s “kind of neat” having people he doesn’t know recognize him from the show.

“I guess it was sort of my 15 minutes of fame,” MacCormick said.

MacCormick said he thinks the keys to the Redhawks’ success is that the players were really committed and “put in the work.” He also is impressed with the team’s broad knowledge base across the board.

“We have no glaring weaknesses,” MacCormick said. “It wasn’t just like raw talent; we definitely have strengths in science, math, history and specifically world history.”

In addition, the team is strong in the so-called “trash categories” like pop culture and sports.

One of the team’s aces is Charles Redmond, who MacCormick said is probably the best in Vermont at knowing about very obscure things from world history.

The team prepares by reading questions from previous tournaments or questions that question companies create. They also practice their “buzzing in.” Unlike in Jeopardy! where contestants can’t ring in until the question has been completely read, in scholars bowl contestants can ring in as soon as the question reading begins.

This has often played into Champlain Valley’s hand, as the team has proven adept at letting overly eager teams buzz in too early and get questions wrong, then taking advantage of their option to answer the same question and get it right.

The team had time during their weekend in Atlanta to do some sightseeing, like touring the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca Cola. Rauch felt the ubiquitous soft drink attraction was a bit Atlanta-centric, but she did have fondness for the opportunity to experience a fast-food chain that isn’t in Vermont: “We were there for three nights, and I had six Dairy Queen Blizzards.”

Let’s mark that down to practicing for next year’s scholars bowl season. Who knows? Maybe a question about the only state in the U.S. without a Dairy Queen might show up in a pop-culture category.