When hearing his team made it to the national tournament, senior Elliot Schwartz said he felt excited the team was considering attending the tournament for the first time in years.

By qualifying for the Burnsville state tournament Feb. 19, quiz bowl’s A team also qualified for the national tournament in Chicago May 29-31, according to adviser Bruce McLean.

“We have always qualified but we have never gone usually because kids didn’t want to go or we didn’t have the money to pay the entry fee,” McLean said.

According to McLean, teams are guaranteed around six games in the preliminary rounds. The teams with winning records will advance to the playoffs. He said Park’s quiz bowl A team is just participating in the tournament for the experience itself.

“It is just for fun,” McLean said. “We are surely not going to go and win it or anything like that. We just will go to compete and have fun.”

Schwartz said he feels excited to attend nationals as this is the first time in years the team has shown enough interest in attending.

“I think the fact we are considering it, or are actually planning on going is just a testament to how involved people are this year,” Schwartz said.

Schwartz said he looks forward to competing against players from across the nation.

“There are always interesting people who play quiz bowl. I think we are pretty weird people, but we are comparatively normal for people who play quiz bowl,” Schwartz said. “It would definitely be interesting to see what it is like in other parts of the country, or if it functions the same way it does in Minnesota.”

McLean said he thinks the team has a good chance at the competition.

“I think we would do OK because we have done well in Minnesota and Minnesota usually does okay,” McLean said. “I would say we are probably one of the top five teams in Minnesota.”

McLean said no matter how the team does, he is proud of all the hard work they have put in to get where they are.

“I think they would have fun. I think it is just to go to Chicago, hang out, play quiz bowl and have a good time,” McLean said.

For more information on the nationals schedule and format visit https://www.naqt.com/hsnct/2015/details.html.