With an early morning start, the Scouts partook in a “pool play” to determine the seeds for the afternoon tournament at Nebraska Christian. In round one, the six quiz bowl participants battled against Cross County, and defeated them, getting the first win of the day. In the second round, the team went against Howells Dodge A, to get the second win of the day, for a 2-0 record.
When the third round came, the Scouts went against McCool Junction A, where they received the third win of the morning. After the morning rounds, all 24 teams were put into a single elimination tournament, which was decided through total points and wins throughout the teams. Our team of 6 was placed as the eighth team.
First tournament round, the team played against Howells Dodge B, which was soon defeated, and moved on to the next game, where they played against the first seed, Heartland Lutheran.
With all the teammates answering multiple questions correctly, the first seed was taken down, to send the Scouts to the quarter-finals, where they would soon play against the thirteenth seed, Central City B.
The team then received their first loss against Central City B but had a guarantee of getting third or fourth place, battling in the last round of the day against Aurora, where the Scouts would be defeated for the second time, finishing with fourth out of 24 teams total. Senior Braxton Small took the lead in answering the majority of the questions for the day.
“I was proud of our team!," said Quiz Bowl coach Lisa Bales. "They competed well in every match. I was hoping for something to fill our trophy case, but 4th out of 24 teams is certainly nothing to be disappointed about.”
Teammate and senior Valori Olson answered many questions for her first contest of the season. “I think that overall, we did really well. We definitely could have done better, but it was a really great start to the spring season and gives us a benchmark to beat.”
The Scouts quiz bowl team did a great job with their fourth-place finish. The team is looking into having a successful future overall, with all the success they are having now, and looking into reaching the state quiz bowl contest in March of 2023.
“We have a lot of seniors this year who made it to state last year, and we're really working towards going again. We've come together as a team in the last few years and found our individual strengths, which has helped us to have a good team. I think that if that pattern continues and new members stay dedicated to quiz bowl, that trend will continue and we'll have a team that goes to state every year, and not just once every few,” stated Olson.