Quiz Bowl Team Returning to Nationals
A year older, a year wiser?
Christ School's Quiz Bowl team has every intention of proving this adage true at the Small School National Championship Tournament.
Three of the four players – Lux Haney-Jardine '20, Michael Mahoney '20, and Wyatt Gildea '19 – should know what kind of butterflies and questions await May 3-5 in Rosemont, Ill. (just outside Chicago). The trio were part of Christ School's first-ever appearance in the national tournament (the Greenies won half of their 10 matches in 2018).
History Chair and Quiz Bowl coach Ben Dowling said that Will DuBose '19 has been a worthy addition after years of involvement with the program.
"The boys are committed to such a high level of practicing, together and on their own," Dowling said. "I'm not asking them to do the extra work a lot of times, and they do it. A tactic they can do is go online and find areas where other high school students are weak. How many high school students do you know who want to learn operas? Each has taken different packets and worked on those. They're strong in different areas and feed each other that way. They are competitive, but there's a real teamwork ethic where they cheer on each other, too."
Qualifying for the national tournament, which had 160 teams in 2018, is based off performance in regular-season matches. Dowling explained that the Greenies competed fewer times this year, but gained entry into the national tournament sooner with higher scores.
The format for the national tournament is two days of matches, preceded by a day of scrimmages. Dowling said that the veterans of last year's trip to Chicago have already put in their requests for activities outside the tournament – a return to the Art Institute of Chicago and chowing down on deep-dish pizza.
"It's nice to see that our hard work this year has culminated in a return to Chicago," Michael said. "I think our team is better than last year's, and we have a legitimate chance to go far this year."
Most weeks, the Quiz Bowl team practices twice after school. Dowling also uses his Honors Interdisciplinary Studies course to help build interest. Additional members of Quiz Bowl and that class have been: Jacob Dowler '19, T.J. Bell '19, Tyler Bell '21, Grant Haldeman '21, Tyler Haldeman '19, Andrew Hammel '20, Matthew Luke '22, Parker Stiles '22, Chad Treadway '19, Max LeCroy '19, Porter Thompson '20, Hunter Williams '20, Colin Brazas '22, Luke Gardner '22, Jonny Mennell '22, and Charlie Thomas '21.
