Multiple groups reach high standing in Quiz Bowl league

This year, Park’s Quiz Bowl team looks to be one of the strongest in recent years with its top two teams going undefeated so far in the season.

Park’s teams A and B, each with 4 members, are 8-0 so far with team B in first and team A tied for second in the Minnesota High School Quiz Bowl League. Beyond the top two teams Quiz bowl advisor Bruce said that this has been a great season.

“On our first night of competition at Minnetonka H.S. our 4 teams went a combined 15-1.  That was the best winning percentage we have ever had for the entire team,” McLean said.

With the success, all of the teams are looking toward the future, team B member Simon Fruchtman said that he confident in this year’s results.

“I think we’ll for sure go to state, and we’ll probably do decently there. This year we will send an ultimate team of 10 or so people.” Fruchtman said.

Quiz bowl is a competitive form of trivia where two teams race to answer a question delivered by a moderator. The first individual on either team that buzzes in to give a possible answer is awarded points. The score at the of match determines the winner at the end. McLean said that team works hard to be ready for competitions.

“We prepare for Quiz Bowl by practicing every Thursday after school until 4:30,” McLean said. “ We set up the buzzers and simply ask Quiz Bowl questions and the students answer.  We generally end the practice with a competition between two teams.”

Along with success, the Park team has been growing, adding a team since 4 years ago, team A member Evan Hill said much of the growth and change from previous years comes from a new group of players.

“This year we’ve seen a shift in our playerbase,” Hill said.  “We’ve had a lot of the players who played mostly on the JV and teams that were more recreational move into more serious positions and they’ve been handling it extremely well.”

The league will last until February, leading into the Minnesota State Championship March 16.