HS quiz bowl team continues win streak

University School of Nashville sent nine of its finest High School students to Gallatin High School on Saturday, February 4 for its invitational tournament. On the A team were Ophelia Cherry-Pulay '25, Penelope Graham '25, Rohan Ramachandran '25, and captain Frederick Rudolph '23; representing the B-team were Evan Giles '26, Jackson Green '26, Noah Horwitz '26, captain Lorelei Jobe '23, and Mason Lack '26.

 

USN-A, winners of five straight tournaments at the start of the day, went 5-0 in the morning with five blowout victories to earn the number-one seed in the 28-team tournament. USN-B won three games out of five to make bracket play as the #13 seed.

 

The 13th seed proved to be an unlucky one, but not for the garnet and Columbia blue. Indeed, USN-B never trailed in matches against the number-four seed Battle Ground Academy and then fifth-ranked Gallatin HS, sending both packing earlier than they might have expected with wins by over 100 points. These wins avenged losses to the same two teams in the morning rounds.

 

In the semifinal, they faced their most formidable opponent yet: still-undefeated USN-A. The B team, invigorated after two tremendous victories, stunned the A team by storming out in front, but then nature took its course, and USN-A eclipsed the 500-point mark in a big victory that sent them to the finals, where they had their seemingly-regular appointment with Hume Fogg Academic High School.

 

That match proved to be anticlimactic as USN-A cruised to a 425-295 victory that was more comfortable than previous finales against the Blue Knights have been. USN-B, not daunted by their recent defeat at the hands of their teammates, shocked last year's state champion, Merrol Hyde Magnet School, in the third-place game by the narrow margin of 245-200.

 

Frederick was the sixth overall scorer in points per game; Rohan was eighth, and Jackson narrowly missed the top 10 as the 11th scorer. Congratulations are deserved by all players.