On the weekend of Saturday, April 23, Radford High School joined 109 of the top quiz bowl teams from small public high schools at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare for the 2022 Small School National Championship Tournament to determine who was the best.
Quiz bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students. Quiz bowl teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology, geography, social science, current events, sports, and popular culture.
The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be an expert in all subject areas. Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.
The RHS team, in the Traditional Public Schools Division, was captained by Owen Saunders, who was joined by Lianna Almeida, Reagan Brown, Jaden Castillo, John Farmer, William Greene, Gavin Harris, Michael Hijduk, Lauren Price, Adalynn Turner, and Caleb Vaughan. The team was coached by Megan Thompson.
Radford High was one of four Virginia teams competing at the national championship.
Radford began the preliminary rounds with a four-game winning streak, defeating Martin County from Inez, Kent.; Itawamba Agricultural from Fulton, Missi.; Zane Trace from Chillicothe, Ohio; and Evergreen from Metamora, Ohio. The Highlanders finished the preliminary rounds with a 7-3 record, which qualified them for the playoffs.
The team made it through some tense moments. For instance, the defeat of Martin County in round three was by the narrow margin of 250-245, and the team’s win over Michigan’s White Pigeon in round 11 was by a slim 215-190 score.
Radford was on the brink of elimination in round 17 when the students defeated Upper Sandusky from Ohio to stay alive. The team eventually lost to Westmont from Illinois, ending their shot at the title.
The Bobcats finished the tournament in eleventh place in the Traditional Public Schools Division. The champion in that division was Glasgow High School from Glasgow, Kent. The Open Division champion was the A team from St. Mark’s School of Dallas, Texas.
