Justin Blanchard Archives - Oak Ridge Today

Tennis: Freshman is undefeated

Posted at 2:45 pm April 26, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge High School freshman Andrew Lee is undefeated in his first season playing tennis as a Wildcat.

Lee, who is playing at number one singles and doubles, has won won 18 singles and doubles matches against Maryville, Hardin Valley, and seven District 3 tennis teams, Coach David Bowman said.

“His sportsmanship and record has established him as a leader on the courts, plus he is humble and a great teammate off the courts,” Bowman said. “ORHS looks forward to having him represent the Wildcats in East Tennessee’s TSSAA tournaments starting the second week of May at Tyson Park.”

The Oak Ridge tennis teams have one home match left this season to play. It’s at 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 26, against Powell High School.

[Read more…]

Three ORHS students qualify for state chess championship

Posted at 11:42 am February 6, 2019
By Gilbert Chan Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge High School freshman Henri Scott was one of three state championship qualifiers from the high school for the state chess championship at Tennessee Tech on Feb. 16, 2019. (Submitted photo)

Oak Ridge High School freshman Henri Scott is one of three state championship qualifiers from the high school for the state chess championship at Tennessee Tech on Feb. 16, 2019. (Submitted photo)

Note: This story was updated at 6:05 p.m.

Three Oak Ridge High School students have qualified for the state chess championship on February 16 at Tennessee Tech University.

The three ORHS students took home trophies and qualified for the state championship during the Region 1 scholastic at Oak Ridge High School on Saturday, January 26, a press release said. More than 109 students from across East Tennessee attended that event.

ORHS juniors Justin Blanchard and Bear Moran took third and seventh, respectively, in the high school division, the press release said. Freshman Henri Scott also qualified for the K-9 championship by taking sixth in that division. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge teams excel at state chess team championships

Posted at 12:22 pm April 5, 2018
By Gilbert Chan Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge High School Freshmen Chess Team in March 2018: Levi Parish, Adam Herron, Kenny Adams, and Dan Joy (Photo courtesy Esther Parish)

Oak Ridge High School Freshmen Chess Team: Levi Parish, Adam Herron, Kenny Adams, and Dan Joy (Photo courtesy Esther Parish)

Every year, the top four scholastic chess teams in each of the four grade divisions qualify to join teams from the other three regions to compete for the Tennessee Chess Association scholastic team championships, which were held March 24 at Tennessee Tech University.

Four Oak Ridge schools—Linden Elementary School, Robertsville Middle School, Jefferson Middle School, and Oak Ridge High School—qualified a total of six teams for this year’s event. That meant that about 1/10th of the players were Oak Ridge students (Oak Ridge has about 0.4 percent of the state’s population).

In the Primary (K-3) section, the Linden team of Ricardo Smith, William Hetrick, Quinn Richardson, and Kaylee Tress finished 11th overall.

In the Elementary (K-6) section, Jefferson (Brian Qu, Isaak Nussbaum, Gavin Koentop, and Toby Croft) finished fifth, while Robertsville (Leo Ehlers, Patrick Wurm, Daisy Kercher, Brandon Bonamarte, and Zachary Williamson) took 10th. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge students earn spots in state chess tournament

Posted at 11:52 am February 3, 2018
By Gilbert CHAN Leave a Comment

K-3 section winners are pictured above at the Tennessee Chess Association Individual Regional Tournament on Jan. 27, 2018, at Oak Ridge High School. An Nguyen from St. Mary's is at right. (Submitted photo)

K-3 section winners are pictured above at the Tennessee Chess Association Individual Regional Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018, at Oak Ridge High School. An Nguyen from St. Mary’s is at right. (Submitted photo)

Oak Ridge students have earned spots in the state championship chess tournament this month.

The Tennessee Chess Association Individual Regional Tournament was Saturday, January 27, at Oak Ridge High School. There were 36 competitors representing Oak Ridge schools: 12 from Oak Ridge High School, six from Jefferson Middle School, six from Robertsville Middle School, four from Willow Brook Elementary School, three each from Linden Elementary School and Woodland Elementary School, and two from St. Mary’s.

Kindergartener An Nguyen from St. Mary’s won a clear first place in the K-3 division with a perfect 5-0 score, a press release said. [Read more…]

Seven ORHS students among thousands at national scholastic chess championships

Posted at 12:45 am May 16, 2017
By Gilbert Chan Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge High School freshman Edward Moran, left, bears down to win his last-round match against a senior from Maryland to clinch second place. (Submitted photo)

There were 1,585 high school category entrants among the 5,578 students from across the country competing in the 2017 USChess SuperNationals tournament, which was held May 12-14 at the Opryland Convention Center in Nashville. ORHS juniors Bronson Burdick, Andrew Chan, and Carson McGhee, as well as freshmen Justin Blanchard, Edward (“Bear”) Moran, Logan Ogle, and Mack Patrick were among them, joined by former world champion Garry Kasparov, who made the ceremonial first move.

The school’s top score was Bear Moran’s 6.5 of a possible 7 in the U800 category, which was a clear second overall behind only a junior from Florida who had the only perfect score of the 220 players in that division. The ORHS players overall had a winning percentage of more than 55 percentage against the top competition in the United States.

Each year, there are national competitions for elementary (K-6), junior high (K-9), and high school (K-12). Every four years, these championships are combined in one venue as “SuperNationals.” The organizers stated this was the largest chess tournament in history in terms of participants. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge schools advance to state chess team finals

Posted at 2:23 pm March 11, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Several Oak Ridge teams advanced to the state chess team championship this month after a regional tournament in Lenoir City on March 4.

Two teams from Oak Ridge High School qualified, and so did teams from Jefferson Middle School, Woodland Elementary School, and Linden Elementary School, a press release said.

The Tennessee Chess Association regionals held at Lenoir City High School on Saturday, March 4, included 151 students on 32 teams from 18 schools across East Tennessee, the press release said. In each of the four grade divisions, the top four teams qualified to play in the state team championship at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville on March 25.

The K-9 division was won by the ORHS freshman team of Logan Ogle (captain), Justin Blanchard, Edward (“Bear”) Moran, and Minwoo Kim, the press release said. They were tied for first with top-rated Episcopal School of Knoxville at the end of the last round, necessitating a blitz (10 minute) match to determine the winner. This match was tied 2-2 so a second match followed, which ORHS won. This matched the result of the 2016 ORHS freshman team, which also won the team regionals in a playoff. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge students advance to state chess championship

Posted at 10:39 am January 31, 2017
By Gilbert Chan Leave a Comment

More than 100 students from 35 schools and home school groups in East Tennessee competed in the Tennessee Chess Association regional tournament at Oak Ridge High School on January 28.

Forty-two of the 115 participants represented schools in Oak Ridge: Jefferson Middle School, Linden Elementary School, Oak Ridge High School, Robertsville Middle School, St. Mary’s, Willow Brook Elementary School, and Woodland Elementary School. Those who qualified for the state tournament to be held February 18 at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville are: [Read more…]