Quiz bowl takes fourth place at state
The team led by three seniors finished its season on Saturday, Feb. 11 at Lansing High School
February 12, 2017
The quiz bowl team finished its season by placing fourth at the state tournament on Saturday, Feb. 11 at Lansing High School.
The team consisted of six total players: junior Sam Phipps, junior Landon Butler, junior Lauryn Hurley, senior Emma Wilhoit, senior Tom McClain, and senior Be Stadler. The team finished fourth in pool play and advanced to bracket play. Unfortunately, the team lost its first round of bracket play to Kapaun Mt. Carmel 55-10 before losing to De Soto 75-20.
For McClain, the tournament provided him with the opportunity to face some of the most advanced schools in the state of Kansas.
“These are the best eight teams in the state so there are never any easy wins here,” McClain said. “We put lots of preparation into it over the season and we got to see ourselves compete against the best in the state.”
In anticipation of the higher level material at the state tournament, Wilhoit practiced more challenging questions with her teammates prior to competing.
“We had practices with the state team where we went over more challenging questions to prepare for the caliber of questions we were going to be asked at state,” Wilhoit said.
Being team captain, McClain took on added responsibilities in order help the team be as successful as possible.
“As team captain I have to not only answer questions, but [I] have to manage the discussions between everyone else,” McClain said. “When there is a question that nobody is really sure of and everybody has a different idea that they are throwing out, it is the team captain’s job to decide who’s going to buzz in and what the answer … is.”
According to senior Emma Wilhoit, the team had a positive season overall.
“This season was very successful,” Wilhoit said. “We got a lot of wins at individual tournaments and got first at regionals.”
While the added pressure to perform well at the state tournament seemed overwhelming at first, McClain and the team pushed those feelings aside and focused on the competition.
“It gets hard before the round because we are all really nervous,” McClain said. “We want to go in there and get it over with, but once you start answering questions you stop thinking about the nerves and you start focusing on what the question is and trying to get it right.”
One of the team members, junior Landon Butler, was absent for pool play due to an ACT test, but he returned for the start of bracket play. McClain felt that his absence had an affect on the team’s performance.
“We definitely struggled with math. [Butler] is our primary math guy and he’s fantastic, but he took the ACT today so he came in late and he was pretty tired,” McClain said.
The versatility among the team helped Wilhoit and her teammates have a successful season as a whole.
“We are team with very talented individuals and our talents span all of the subjects we are asked about,” Wilhoit said. “I think we just gel as a team and work well together and that has contributed to our ability to do well.”
