Rookie Rally reprises for successful tournament
MADISON – With the Rookie Rally returning to Blossomwood Elementary School, the chess contenders received a welcome from Huntsville City Schools Superintendent Christie Finley and Blossomwood Principal Bradley Scott.
“We were thrilled to return to the beautiful Blossomwood campus. Even those players without a rating left the Rookie Rally with a rating,” Ranae Bartlett said. Bartlett is President of Madison City Chess League.
“We would like to thank Blossomwood Chess Team sponsor Avery Murphree for her hard work in planning and setting up the tournament,” Bartlett said.
State Sen. Tom Butler sponsored the Rookie Rally.
The following paragraphs list all sections and individual standouts, starting with first place and descending; top teams; and Top Female, who did not place otherwise in competition:
* K-12 Open Section — Caleb Chen, Marek Fries, Rachael Ehrman, Andrew Yang, Aaron Chen and Top Female, Caroline Wang.
In team play, Bob Jones High School won first place.
* K-8 Championship Section — Caden Jordan, Anna Ai, Laya Gowder, Cohen Tate, Sophia Jerez, Abby Chan, Joseph Park, Noah Hsu, Tim Lee and Sean Rowe. Tied for tenth-place medals were Jack Meyer, Kate Meyer, Noah Pate, John Chen and Top Female, Christina Yang.
Discovery Middle School ranked as first-place team, followed by Liberty Middle School.
* K-5 Championship Section — Esteban Jerez, Kyle Zou, Emerson Phillips, Daksh Sunil, Esinam Tettey, Theodore Piper, Isaac Doyle, Dheeren Pammina, Isaac Kreusser and Cohen Phillips. Tied for tenth-place medals were Margaret Lin, Mason Park and Cora Newberry.
Horizon Elementary School took first-place honors, followed by Heritage Elementary School in second and Columbia Elementary School in third.
* K-5 Under 500 Section — Abigail Barbre, Si Cha, Kyle Miller, Zane Kerby, Umar Mohammed, Lilia Baker, Tyga Okoro, Parker Klein, Tyler Pysh and Elliott Stinson. Tied for tenth-place medals were Sarah Rytting, Sterling Turner and Noah Goerlich. Top Female, Grace Lee.
In team play, Heritage ranked in first place, with Rainbow Elementary School, second; Columbia, third; and Horizon, fourth.
* K-3 Championship Section — Asher Allison, Alice Zou, Avyaktha Subramania, Samuel Liao, Christopher Chan, Charlie Saulters, Arjun Sathees, Annabelle Hsu, John Park and Aryaa Sathees. Sung Cha and Lucas He tied for tenth-place medals.
Columbia had the first-place team, followed by Rainbow, Horizon and Heritage.
* K-3 Under 300 Section — Samuel Ellis, Donald Kosak, Joanna He, Udara Sarathchandra, James Hooper, David Jones, Ronan Price, Janvi Jinva, Kosei Noda and Henry Saulters. Tied for tenth-place medals were Medha Akarapu, Junpei Noda, Aarav Bhaskar and Vincent Grenon. Top Female, Jane Hunkapiller.
Ranked from first through fifth, winning teams were Rainbow, Horizon, Mill Creek, Midtown and Heritage.
