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Central finished ahead of seven other teams in the country, including second-place Boston Latin High School, and high schools from the Chicago and Cleveland areas. Matt Bollman, K.C. Peck, Tyler Shaker and Hannah Boldt made up Central’s team.
In the JA Titan competition, students play an online business simulation game in which they have to make economic and management decisions.
“It was a tough competition, and I’m so proud of the students,” said Jim Berns, Central’s economics teacher and the team’s adviser. “They built a long-term strategy to win, and it was one of the best national games we have played. This is one of the best teams I’ve had in the finals.”
Central has qualified for nationals four of the past five years. Berns said team members were disappointed they didn’t get a trip to Disney World, where the nationals had been held until this year.
Instead, teams this year competed online. Central beat second-place Holmen High School on Monday in the national preliminaries to advance. A second Central team lost in the preliminaries.
“We were really excited to win,” said Bollman, a senior. “We figured out our own strategy for the full business cycle, and we like to go high marketing and then control the market. It has worked for us.”
Boldt, also a senior, said the competition was difficult because of the high-caliber high schools. “I’m really happy and excited, because we really worked hard,” Boldt said. “It’s a good thing for La Crosse that we have this national reputation.”
Berns said his team peaked at the right time. “We took the lead and then hung on,” he said. The team also was coached by Tung Ouy, a member of the 2005 national championship Central team, and John Schmidt, a Central math teacher.
In 2006, Central swept the top three awards when Nick Grays won the national title, David Ranscht was second and Johanna Ley was third. In 2005, Central’s Greg Dihlmann-Malzer won the National JA Titan title, while teammate Nick Manske placed second. In 2004, Central’s Adam Solyst took second place at nationals.
Last year, when Central did not qualify for nationals, JA Titan nationals became a team competition instead of an individual contest.
Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8227.
