McCracken County: front: l to r: Caleigh Propes, Jonny Wallace, Sean Sieczka, Hannah Newberry, Matt Poat, Zach Stone, Ethan Brown. Back: Drew Schofield, Dustyn Hofer, David Dodd, Zach Althouse, Jeremy Latham, Alex Bohannon

PADUCAH, KY. (January 6, 2016) - Seven regional high schools competed in the 2016 President's Cup Academic Bowl held at West Kentucky Community and Technical College on January 6.

McCracken County took home the top prize with Paducah Tilghman in second place and Calloway County and Madisonville North Hopkins earning third and fourth place, respectively.

At left, Paducah Tilghman: l to r: Lance Butler, Paco Dos Remedios, Meg Hancock, Reese Butler, Palmer Stroup, Jack Daniels, John Holtgrewe, Travis Myers

Other participating high schools were Ballard Memorial, Graves County and Marshall County.

"Our team is filled with artists, musicians and athletes and they came together to compete academically with area high schools and won," said McCracken County assistant head coach Tammy Bohannon. We are excited to have five seniors on our team this year and I know it meant a lot to them to come home with a win,"

WKCTC faculty and staff moderated the competition, which consisted of individual written assessments in arts/humanities, language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and quick recall matches.

Below: Madisonville North Hopkins (L to R) - David Wallace, Martha Popesca, Austin Burden, James deLeon, Paige Blackburn, Nick Kelley

"These teams represent some of the best and brightest students in our region, and it is a wonderful opportunity to showcase their knowledge in academic bowl," said Gary Goodaker, professor of mathematics at WKCTC and vice-president of the West Kentucky Academic Association. "We at WKCTC are proud to bring attention to their hard work and dedication to academic competition."

At right: Calloway County High School: Front Row (L to R) - Claire Umstead, Madison Jeziorski, Emma Warren, Kati Madden. Back Row (L to R) - Jaewon Kang, Sam Morehead, Martin Miculcik, Matthew Canning

The top five written assessment winners were chosen from each category. First place winners were:

Arts/Humanities - Martha Popescu, Madisonville-North Hopkins

Language Arts - Caleigh Propes, McCracken County

Mathematics - Reese Butler, Paducah Tilghman

Science - Ethan Brown, McCracken County

Social Studies - Colton Edwards, Marshall County