Winter 2016
Dean’s Advanced Certamen Predictions
1. Shaker Heights
It’s easy to join the bandwagon for a team that took down
Summit’s famous Dream Team of the 2014 OJCL
Convention, consisting of legends such as Tino
Delamerced and Jesse Campbell. However, they’ll have to
fight tooth and nail this year for another championship.
The loss of Nationals MVP Sameer Apte and myth whiz
Ben Robertson will be hard to overcome.
Key player: Matthew McMillan (history) will have to put the
team on his back to see real success in the finals. Without
his leadership, the team will be lost.
2. Summit
A perennial powerhouse, the young Knights have high
aspirations for themselves. Returning half of last year’s
second place team, they have also added Joseph
Delamerced (brother of legends Tino and Anna) and
Caroline Klette onto their starting roster in the language
and myth spots.
Key player: Caroline Klette (myth) is hot and cold during
rounds. Huge variable for the team.
3. Indian Hill
Certamen is all about the present, not the past. Indian
Hill’s seniors boast of past successes, but without any
major presence from any player in the past few years, can
they live up to the hype? With a player in every category,
on paper, they may be one of the top teams in the state.
Key player: Josh Young (language/all around) has enough
knowledge of the Latin language to cause some major
damage in a round. The question is, how will he perform
under real pressure in Columbus?
4. Walnut Hills
After laying dormant for the past ten years, Walnut Hills
has burst back onto the Certamen team with the return of
a famous name—Hattemer. The young-blood freshman,
Peter, proved last year at state and nationals that he could
hold his own against players at his level, but this analyst
predicts that he will crack under pressure when facing real
experience.
Key player: probably a literature player. Anyone can pick
up a myth book or Ketan’s history packets, but literature
takes time and patience to master. Big variable.
6. Seven Hills
A tough team to judge academically. Their high ranking is
completely based on their Dark Horse Charlie Dwight,
who has been AWOL all season. The team’s success
revolves entirely around him.
Key player: Seven Hills’ myth spot will be vital this year.
Charlie (primarily language) will need assistance in all
other categories to be successful. It takes a linguist to
make a good team, but other categories to create a
championship team.
7. Westlake
Able to produce 1-2 players every few years that can wield
a buzzer. The reason for the ranking? Westlake deserves
another run at the semifinals.
Key player: N/A
8. St. Xavier
St. X has a team that could potentially be the biggest
question mark at this year’s convention. Performing well
enough at locals certamen to get this analyst’s attention,
their strength lies in their knowledge of the Latin
language.
Key player: anyone that knows myth, history, or literature.
9. Columbus Academy
Purely from personal experience, CA is another variable
team that could make or break their way to the semifinals,
and depending on how good of a day they are having,
they could make some real noise against the heavy hitting
top 3 teams on this list.
Key player: Yet to be discovered.
Tullus Dean is a veteran Certamen player, who recently
played on the 2nd Place Ohio Team at NJCL Convention.
Key player: The rest of the team. The huge mystery is
whether or not Peter will be helped by any of his fellow
Eagles.
5. St. Edwards
After the loss of Will Beatrez, St. Ed’s will have to rebound
with linguist Soren Gran and others to make it anywhere at
this year’s convention.
By Tullus Dean, Certamen Analyst, Summit
Tullus Dean
(right) in
the
National
Certamen
finals in
2015
V