Had their exploits occurred on the gridiron or basketball court, the media would have been charting their progress for months. Each day's newspaper would have contained a wealth of box scores, player profiles and team statistics. Regular season wins would have made the nightly TV news. And as for their final victory, it would have been splashed across the front page.
   But because their achievement involved brain and not brawn, it's left up to this pitiful column, buried in the New River Current and coming five weeks late, to tout Eastern Montgomery High School's academic team, which recently came home with the school's first state championship. Not that the team cares that much about the publicity. Defying the bookish stereotype, the team's seven members are simply too blithe and busy to care.
   They schedule their study sessions around band practice for Brad Hinshelwood, Bent-Lee Carr and Jenny Wahlberg; Maggie Thornton's tennis practice; choir rehearsals for Tamara Harrison and Kristin Wahlberg; Carr's baseball practice; and cross-country training for Jenny, Kristin and sister Kate. Not to mention their varying commitments to church youth group, Boy Scouts, 4-H Club, Science Club and the school golf team.
   "We really don't practice that much," says Kristen Wahlberg.
   Adds Hinshelwood, "We don't have that much time."
   When they finally do get together, the school's gym, not the library, would be a more fitting place for their boisterous, quip-cracking practices. And at competitions, as other coaches walk around with notebooks grilling their teams up to the last minute, East Mont is playing Texas Hold 'Em poker.
   As Hinshelwood explains, "A lot of teams get on stage and are very ..."
   "Stoic," says Thornton, finishing his teammate's thought.
   "Stoic," compliments Jenny Wahlberg. "Nice use of a vocabulary word."
   If anything, the students' well-roundedness has enhanced their academic team's performance. Questions at these competitions range from Greek mythology, calculus and saponification (look it up) to knowing rapper P. Diddy's real name and the security force of Michael Jackson.
   "We have a lot more pop culture knowledge than other schools," says Hinshelwood.
   "Because they're not nerds!" exclaims school librarian and team coach Brenda Tester.
   "We do not listen to Yo-Yo Ma," agrees Kristen Wahlberg.
   Sighs coach Tester: "They make an impression wherever they go."
   East Mont didn't even have an academic team three years ago. A few students participated in the Mountain Academic Competition Conference, or MACC, which is a regional contest of sorts.
   In the spring of 2002, Hinshelwood, just a freshman at the time, heard about the state academic team tournament, or State Scholastic Bowl. He rounded up a group of Mustangs to go to Radford University to compete in the district tournament. The team finished second, and took fourth place at the Region C competition.
   Last year, the team again came in second in the district but won the region and ended up in fifth place in Group A at the state tournament.
   After an undefeated regular season this year, the team twice beat two-time state champs Radford High at the district tournament. At regionals, the closest match was a 185 to 135 win against George Wythe that, in Thornton's words, "was still a decisive spanking."
   On Feb. 28, the team traveled to the College of William and Mary for the Group A State Scholastic Bowl. For their first match, they drew defending state champion George Mason High from Fairfax. The Mustangs eked out a five-point win, sailed through round two, and in round three downed previously undefeated James Monroe High from Fredericksburg. In the finals of the double-elimination tournament, they again faced George Mason, whomthey defeated 200 to 190.
   While their accomplishments haven't generated much buzz outside East Mont, within school walls, says Thornton, "people have really rallied around us."
   Before each tournament, student Virginia Anne Hagood penned a poem for the team, such as this one for state:
   They're going to bring the gold back to EMHS!
   Bring shame to the other schools; they'll be a mess!
   They try so hard and are so smart.
   They take AP History instead of Art.
   And a banner hyping their accomplishment will soon adorn the auditorium.
   But if the media has missed this year's bandwagon, they'll surely get more opportunities in years to come. The only senior on the squad is Carr, while Kate and Jenny Wahlberg are mere freshmen.
   It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out their future looks good.