Quiz bowl dominates at states
The Quiz Bowl team traveled to the state championship tournament at Michigan State University Apr.16, where they competed in the top division and won fourth place overall.
“I think we did really well as a team,” senior Lily Schmidt said. “We play on each others strengths and we cover a wide range of knowledge.”
When the original coach of the team retired, so did the team due to the lack of participants. However, three years ago Glen Kolbicz, the current Quiz Bowl coach, reestablished the team and it began to grow again.
“It was, and still is a pleasure to work with students who want to be challenged academically beyond the classroom requirements,” Kolbicz said.
The Quiz Bowl team travels to both small colleges and large universities all over the state several times a year to compete in tournaments. This is the first time out of the 15 years that the team traveled to the state championship tournament.
“Our team works very well together,” Kolbicz said. “They will lead practices when I’m not available due to meetings, etc. At competitions, they will play off of each other’s strengths knowing in which areas each excels.”
Currently, there are seven members on the Quiz Bowl team: seniors Schmidt, Connor Schury, Aaron Sieracki, Adam Sieracki; juniors Connor Cummins, Adam Misch; and sophomore Annalisa Yepko. The group is always looking for new members that will allow them to continue to succeed in the following years, according to Kolbicz.
“This is the best season by far,” Schmidt said. “As a team we’re really well-balanced and everyone is a strong competitor, so we cover a lot of ground.”
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Charlie Andrews • Jun 16, 2016 at 4:52 pm
Fourth place at states is a huge accomplishment: congratulations!
I’m not sure whether “This is the first time out of the 15 years that the team traveled to the state championship tournament.” is correct, though. I graduated in the class of ’08 and our team competed in the state championship each year from 2005 to 2008 (admittedly never placing as well as fourth).
The team also took fourth place at the national level in 2003 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Academic_Quiz_Tournaments) and won a national championship in 2000 (http://euler.math.uga.edu/wiki/index.php?title=Eisenhower_High_School_(Michigan)), although that’s admittedly outside of the 15 year window.