The scholastic bowl team earned four banners in 2005-2006. PHHS was first in the Prairieland Conference with a 20-1 record, second in the Peoria Area League with a 15-2 record, first at the 16 team Bloomington Masonic regional and second in the state tournament, and first at the Peoria County Tournament. The team won their IHSA Regional. The varsity team competed in 86 contests on 20 dates with a final record of 73-13. This is the most victories in the 20 years the school has competed in scholastic bowl. The varsity school record is now 692-374 in the 20 years of competition.

   Memorable moments included defeating IVC, Sterling, and Bloomington in the State Masonic Tournament before losing to IHSA State AA champion Palatine Fremd in the championship match. Conference member Elmwood was fourth. In the conference series PHHS beat Lewistown on the last question in the final showdown between the two schools thus going 2-1 against friendly rival Lewistown and taking the conference title with a 20-1 record while Lewistown was 19-2. Earlier in the conference season PHHS defeated Havana with a correct spelling of the capital of Iceland, i.e. R-e-y-k-j-a-v-i-k. IVC was defeated at the Peoria County Tournament, in the PAL, and at Masonic State. The 2nd place IHSA State finishers did, however, defeat Peoria Heights for the IHSA Sectional Championship in close round robin play where any of a number of circumstances would have advanced any of the four teams (IVC was 2-1, PHHS was 2-1, Eureka 1-2, and St. Bede 1-2). In the PAWAC at BU we lost to Normal West by only f ive points after trailing by 110 at half-time, lost to Bloomington in overtime, and to Morton by 15 points ending up 4th place. For the first time a number of PHHS students participated in a Solo Tournament at the U of I.

   Team leader in toss-ups was senior Dylan Troxel with 471 toss-up questions answered. Fellow seniors Jeff Schwindenhammer with 64, Hal Woo with 56, Greg Chamberlain with 48, and Mike Casey with 27 were followed by sophomores Greg Gauf with 21 and Zack Troxel with 11 and freshman Burl Rolett with 3. Sophomore Justin Hayse also competed in varsity matches. A total of 701 toss-ups were answered for a 8.2 per quiz average.

   The frosh-soph record was 27-22 on eleven dates. Sophomore Justin Hayse served as captain and answered 62 toss-up questions. Others sophomore totals included Greg Gauf with 35, Sam Boles with 20, Zack Troxel with 18, Julio Soto with 10, William Jenkins with 6, and Matt Wills with 5 toss-up questions answered. Freshmen Burl Rolett answered 84 toss-ups, and fellow freshmen Willow Crane, Cory Scribner, and Kelsey Knight answered 42, 3, and 2 respectively. Sophomore Kayla Myers attended a number of matches and intends to join the team next year. The team answered 287 questions for a 5.9 per quiz average. Mrs. Sheila Bussone was the freshmen-sophomore coach.

   A varsity letter was awarded to sophomore Greg Gauf. Varsity pins were awarded to Dylan Troxel for a fourth year letter, to Jeff Schwindenhammer and Hal Woo for third year letters, and Mike Casey and Greg Chamberlain for second year letters. Junior varsity letters were awarded to sophomore Julio Soto and freshmen Willow Crane and Burl Rolett. Junior Varsity second year pins were awarded to sophomores Justin Hayse and Zack Troxel. Participation certificates go to sophomores Sam Boles, William Jenkins, and Matt Wills and freshmen Kelsey Knight and Cory Scribner. Dylan Troxel received all-sectional and all-state recognition for the second year. He also earned all-tournament recognition four times and received recognition for being the varsity captain.

   Fifty point club plaques were awarded to Jeff Schwindenhammer and Hal Woo and a One Hundred Point Club plaque Dylan Troxel in recognition of their answering of 64, 56, and 471 toss-up questions respectively. Dylan graduates with a school record 1143 career varsity toss-ups answered. Jeff had 165, Hal 159, Greg 81, and Mike had 42 for their career totals.

   Thanks to the five seniors and all the parents, staff, and non-scholastic bowl students who helped make this another successful, fun, and learning year.

   The Peoria Heights High School scholastic bowl team placed first in the Prairieland Conference championship with a 20-1 record. Conference members include second place Lewistown, Havana, Elmwood, Abingdon, Bushnell, Astoria, and Cuba. This is the 9th year out of the last 11 that PHHS has been conference champion. The conference contests were held over seven dates with three quizzes each evening. All-conference medallions were awarded to Ben Sheets (12) of Lewistown and Dylan Troxel (12) of PHHS tied for the top spot with 98 toss-up questions answered, Alex Davis (11) of Elmwood with 60, Hannah Kline (11) of Lewistown with 39, Jeff Schwindenhammer (12) of PHHS with 35, Tyler McGrew (12) of BPC with 32, Molly Gass (12) of Elmwood with 31, Andy Schaffer (12) of Astoria and Kyle Dinges (10) of Abingdon tied with 30, and Anna Van Voorhis (12) of Astoria plus , Derek Smith (11) and Dustin Smith (11) of Havana all tied at 28. Other Heights students answering conference questi ons included Mike Casey (12) with 12, Hal Woo (12) with 12, Greg Chamberlain (12) with 10, Burl Rolett with 2, Greg Gauf (10) and Zack Troxel (10) with one each.