Lawrence students star in chess tourney

Three Lawrence chess players dominated the K-6 Division of the Washburn Rural High School Scholastic Chess Tournament on Oct. 15.

Quail Run School student Cole Reams took first place in the division, while Quail Run student Andrei Elliot won second place and Michala Ruder, a student at Cordley School, took third.

Quail Run placed second as a team in the K-6 category and Wakarusa Valley School took third in the same division.

K-12 medal winners were Thomas Reams, of Southwest Junior High, sixth; Steven Hamblen, Free State High School, 11th; and Matt Vandruff, Southwest Junior High, 13th. South Junior High’s Nate McFadden finished sixth in the K-8 Division.

Other K-6 medal winners were: Owen McFadden, Wakarusa Valley, sixth; Robert Newman, Wakarusa Valley, eighth; Makayla Wagner, Wakarusa Valley, 11th; Aaron Simon, Quail Run, 12th; Byron McClelland, Cordley, 15th; Morgan Wilson, Wakarusa Valley, 17th; Zack Curran, Cordley, 18th; Ian Gent, Cordley, 19th; and George Wedge, Cordley, 20th.