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National high school mascot bracket, Round 1: Vote for Harpeth Hall Honeybears or Columbia Hickman Kewpies

Harpeth Hall (Tennessee) is an 8 seed and Columbia Hickman (Missouri) is a 9 seed in the first round

Mike Swanson

The Harpeth Hall Honeybears (Tennessee) take on the Columbia Hickman Kewpies (Missouri) in Round 1.
The Harpeth Hall Honeybears (Tennessee) take on the Columbia Hickman Kewpies (Missouri) in Round 1. / Graphic by Jesus Baca

The bracket is set for High School on SI's 2025 NCAA Tournament-style contest to determine the best high school mascot in America, and Round 1 is underway.

Vote below for the No. 8-seeded Harpeth Hall Honeybears (Tennessee) or the No. 9-seeded Columbia Hickman Kewpies (Missouri) to advance to the second round.

The winner will face either the Key Obezags (Maryland) or Wai'anae Seariders (Hawaii).

The Honeybears earned an 8 seed by winning our statewide Tennessee contest with 355 votes, while the Kewpies won Missouri with 147 votes to earn a 9 seed.

Follow along: National Mascot Tournament 2025 Bracket

Voting for this matchup will conclude Tuesday, March 25, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time.

High School on SI voting polls are intended to be a fun way to create fan engagement and express support for your favorite high school athletes and teams. Unless expressly noted, there are no awards for winning the voting. Our primary focus is to highlight the abilities and accomplishments of all the athletes and teams included in our poll. You are limited to one vote every 6 hours and are encouraged to share our polls with others.

8. Harpeth Hall Honeybears (Tennessee)

“Honey” the Honeybear is this all-girls school’s mascot. From a Harpeth Hall Facebook post: “The honeybear mascot was first introduced at Harpeth Hall in the 1970s, coinciding with the passage of Title IX. The legislation opened up new opportunities in sports for women and girls and teams embraced mascots to represent them and bring them good luck in competition.”

9. Columbia Hickman Kewpies (Missouri)

Here’s how this one-of-a-kind mascot came to be in 1914, according to kewpie.net: “Apparently, the school secretary owned a Kewpie doll, as they were popular figurines then, and she kept it on her desk. At one of the basketball games, she placed the Kewpie in the center of the court (I guess for good luck), and the entire game was played around it without its being broken. This was somewhat remarkable since the dolls were very fragile. Because it survived the game and brought a victory, it was thereafter considered the good luck mascot.”

National high school mascot bracket, Round 1: Vote for Harpeth Hall Honeybears or Columbia Hickman Kewpies
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-- Mike Swanson | swanson@scorebooklive.com | @sblivesports

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Mike Swanson, SBLive Sports
MIKE SWANSON

Mike Swanson is the VP of Content for High School On SI. He's been in journalism since 2003, having worked as a reporter, city editor, copy editor and high school sports editor in California, Connecticut and Oregon.

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