For most students, the 2:20 bell on Friday afternoon signifies the beginning of an anxiously awaited weekend. However, for some Ladue students, that bell means it is time for weekly Quiz Bowl practice.
The Ladue Quiz Bowl team is a group of students who compete in academic competitions that test trivia-type knowledge in nearly any subject from chemistry to literature to music. Led by coach Mike Hill, team members practice for upcoming tournament every Friday.
“It’s as competitive as any sport that I’ve ever played,” Hill said. “My favorite part is the fact that I learn something every time I sit in practice.”
This past summer five members of Ladue’s quiz bowl team traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to compete at the High School National Championship Tournament. While there, team members Zev Kane, Jeremy Novack, Max Schindler, Haohang Xu, and Ben Zhang faced some of the best academic teams in the nation.
“The national tournament gave us a chance to play on harder questions and against stronger teams… It was also a lot faster paced,” sophomore Zhang said.
The team competed in 14 rounds over the course of two days. At the end of the weekend, the team tied for 13th place.
“This is tied for the best a team from Missouri has ever done at this national tournament,” junior Schindler said. “We didn’t really expect to go that far.”
Individually, Schindler was also named a Tournament All-Star for winning the 13th most points of all the competitors during the 10 preliminary rounds.
Despite losing grads, Zev Kane and Jeremy Novack, team members seem confident that the quiz bowl program will continue to grow.
“Losing Zev hurts since he was an amazing fine arts player but Haohang is doing a good job of starting to fill in that gap. Plus, Ben is very good at mythology, so if he keeps that up we should be fine,” Schindler said.
The entire Quiz Bowl team currently includes over a dozen members. Although some are more experienced than others, team members appreciate a variety of perspectives.
“We had quite a lot of good people join Quiz Bowl last year,” Zhang said. “It’s fun to play with different people and have them help with their various strengths.”
Although they all practice together, at tournaments students usually compete on teams of only five. Sometimes, this means that the team focuses more on members of the “A” team.
“This year we want to do a better job of cultivating a B or C team that is competitive since that will strengthen the whole program,” Schindler said. “Our plans are to study hard, get better, and try to go even farther.”
