The Battle for Bloedows has been a wonderful March Madness tradition that started with my sister when she was in high school.

She kept it within a close knit group of friends and the winner received the ability to give a specific type of doughnut to all participants.

In 2008, as a fourth grader, I took over the commissioner duties with the help of my desk lamp, Rohan, and brought it exclusively to the class of 2016. Jake Renk, who will take his predicting talents to Summit Avenue, took the fry cake for the first year. There were eight participants.

The number of contenders has fluctuated over the last few years, growing from that small hallway to the whole school. In 2015, the Battle for Bloedows grew to a new record of 59 participants, including Cotter staff members. The contest was won by Caleb Glodowski (class of 2018) with a record 144 points. While the 2016 competition had a large decrease in participation due to logistics, this year was still as exciting as ever.

It came down to the final night of the tournament. The #2 Villanova Wildcats, hailing from Philadelphia, fresh off of a crushing victory over Oklahoma, faced off against the #1 North Carolina Tar Heels. While the Bloedows Breadwinners were already decided, whose name would appear on the Wall of Fame was still up in the air. The power of picking the powdered sugars rested in the National Championship game.

Senior Hannah Going (who also entered the Whaley Family Pool, also for doughnuts) created a bracket that was in the 98th percentile on ESPN.com’s Tournament Challenge. She paints in her free time. Junior Andre Russeau shredded the ice in the winter for the Winona Winhawks hockey team. He eats Blooming Grounds for lunch.

Going went with the Tar Heels. Russeau rested his stakes in the Philadelphia private school.

Ultimately, it was Russeau who came out on top.

Both competitors had strong starts out of the gate. Russeau was locked in a tie for second place and Going in seventh after the first round. While both had very consistent second round/Sweet Sixteen performances, Going overtook sophomore Connor Walechka and senior Mikala Nelton for a three-point lead. Going and junior Jake French were the only partici
pants to have correctly predicted three of the Final Four.

Russeau did not back down, collecting 32 points after North Carolina and Villanova embarrassed their respective opponents, #10 Syracuse and #2 Oklahoma. Going was hurt by Oklahoma’s absence in the semifinal game, and would have clinched sole possession of the title. Once Villanova’s Kris Jenkins hit the game-winning three at the buzzer, that was all she wrote.

 Seniors Tyler Pozanc and Andy Tofstad, who both picked Villanova to defeat the Tar Heels, finished in second and third respectively. Pozanc finished just one point behind Russeau. Tofstad scored the lowest of all contestants in the first round with just 17 points, but bounced back with good Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight numbers.

The future of the Battle for Bloedows is still up in the air. There will be participation revisions that will be announced at a later time.

Battle for Bloedows IX Fun Facts

• Of the 29 brackets entered, 9 picked #2 Michigan State appear in the championship and 5 picked the Spartans to win the title
• Only 3 brackets (Russeau, Pozanc and Tofstad) correctly picked the National Championship matchup
• Only one bracket (belonging to senior Tim DeMarais) correctly picked UNC-Notre Dame in the Elite Eight
• In 2015, 23 brackets scored over 100 points. There are 29 total brackets this year.