Benjamin Caiello Wins State Scholastic Championship for Second Year in a Row!!
Benjamin Caiello refused to be defeated on Saturday and repeats as South Carolina's State High School Champion for 2015!!! Congratulations Ben!!! Ben went a perfect 5.0 throughout all of his games despite inspired play by all of his opponents. Adam Blocker fought valiantly with the champ in round 1, followed by Simon Kubrynski in round 2, and Robert Melville in round 3. The biggest challenge remaining was the much anticipated 4th round rival match against Kevis Tsao, the 2013 SC State Scholastic Champion. The game was close as everyone anticipated but in the end, Ben was ahead on time which ended up giving him the win. Ian Bell tried to unseat Ben in the 5th and final round but was unsuccessful. With another State Championship in hand, Ben will be representing our State in the Denker Tournament of High School Champions later this year. Again, Congratulations Ben!!! Thanks for being a great champion for our State!! Congratulations also to Neha and Aditya Dias!!! Neha will represent our State at the USCF National Girl’s Invitational Tournament and Aditya at the Barber Tournament of K8 Champions!!!
(Above - far left: Ben Caiello, Aditya Dias, Neha Dias; Center - Connor Liu, Brady Setser, with President David Grimaud)
2015 Trophy Winners...
HIGH SCHOOL SECTION: (1st) Benjamin Caiello 5.0, (2nd) Ian Bell 4.0, (3rd) Melville, Robert 4.0, (4th) Kevis Tsao 4.0, (5th) Alexander Moreno 4.0
HM - Simeon Radev 4.0, Daniel Custer 4.0
Neha Dias, 3.5 Top Female
MIDDLE SCHOOL SECTION 6-8: (1st) Aditya Dias 5.0, (2nd) Paul Pena 4.0, (3rd) Michael Burrell 4.0, (4th) Sam Stalnaker 4.0, (5th) Kevin Rogers 4.0
HM - Ravitej Guruvelli 4.0, Bohan Wang 4.0, Braeden Reed 4.0
Lefan Xuan, 2.5 - Top Female
ELEMENTARY SECTION 4-5: (1st) Brady Setser 5.0, (2nd) Connor Liu 5.0, (3rd) Pierson Tran 4.0, (4th) Jacob Lewis 4.0 (5th) Toby Cox 4.0, (6th) Luke Wassung 4.0, (7th) Walker Bauknight 4.0, (8th) Rowan Johnson 4.0, (9th) Jack Mcdougall III 4.0 (10th) Rahul Rangaraju 4.0
HM - Paulo Hitopoulos 4.0, Kevin Fan 3.5, Jace Kraftchick 3.5, Martin Oltmann 3.5, Merritt Taylor 3.5
Taylor Hollis 2.5 - Top Female
ELEMENTARY SECTION K-3: (1st) Robert Hylton 5.0, (2nd) Whit Suber, Jr. 4.5, (3rd) Benja Williams, Jr (4th) Eli Moore 4.0, (5th) Allen Hong 4.0,
HM - Henri Murthy, 4.0, Kenda Bloxom 3.5, Kabir Zaman 3.5, Luke Lasher 3.5, Kabir Zaman 3.5, Adam Kremer 3.5
Erika Oltmann 3.0 Female
William, Tabakian 4.0 - Top 2nd Gr
William Jones 3.5 - Top 1st Gr
Samuel Jones, 2.5 - Top K
TEAM RESULTS
High School 9-12 1st D.W. Daniel High School, Clemson, SC 15.0pts.
Runner-up Pelion High School, Pelion, SC 12.5pts.
Middle School 6-8 1st Cario Middle School, Mt. Pleasant, SC 13.5pts.
Runner-up R.C. Edwards Middle School, Clemson, SC 11.5pts.
Elementary School 4-5 1st Pinckney Elementary School, Mt. Pleasant, SC 16.5pts.
Runner-up Clemson Elementary School, Clemson, SC 16.0pts.
Primary School K-3 1st Pinckney Elementary School, Mt. Pleasant, SC 13.5pts.
Runner-up Buist Academy, Mt. Pleasant, SC 11.5pts.