For the third year in a row, the Middlesex Quiz Bowl Team won the Charter Oak Scholastic Open and took second place for the second straight year.
Quiz Bowl Team B: The Middlesex B team first place winners: Conway Zhou, Shriya Desai, Skyler Bennett and John Phipps. Missing from picture: Jackson Leone (contributed)
This was the team’s largest tournament to date, with a field consisting of 32 teams from Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York.
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— an announcement from the Middlesex Middle School Publicity Committee
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The contestants competed head-to-head to answer questions ranging over the entire spectrum of the middle school curriculum including history, literature, science and fine arts. They also included current events, sports, and popular culture.
“We are so proud of our students, who spent countless hours after school each week practicing questions in preparation for the tournament. It is so rewarding for them to see that all that hard work resulted in such success,” said faculty adviser Barbara Ivey.
The Middlesex B Team (8th graders Skyler Bennett, Shriya Desai, Jackson Leone, John Phipps, and Conway Zhou) defeated The Middlesex A Team (8th graders Nick Derby, Grace Hand, Riya Krishnan, Maya Nalawade, and Jack Roberson) in an exciting final match. The Middlesex B Team finished 9-0, and the A Team finished 8-1.
Quiz Bowl A Team: The MMS Quiz Bowl A Team secured a second place victory at the Charter Oak Tournament. Pictured left to right: Riya Krishnan, Maya Nalawade (captain), Nick Derby and Grace Hand
The D Team (7th graders Alex DelVecchio, Iman Onbargi, and Vincent Xu, and 6th grader James Leone) finished 5th, and thus qualified for National Championships in Atlanta, Georgia along with the A and B teams that secured their spots after their last tournament.
The E Team (7th graders Will Cherico, Fin Kerhli, Nick Liu, and Max Samroengraja) made the playoff bracket and finished 8th.
“This tournament would not have been possible with the efforts of many Middlesex faculty volunteers who gave up their Saturday to work at our competition, including Allison Ball, Vickie Festo, Mike Bowersox, Michelle Mattera, Pat Mendoza, Susan Morrison, Joe O’Brien, Liisa Peterson, Denise Ryan, Mike Tracey, and our fabulous custodial staff,” noted faculty adviser Ken Romeo.
“We would also like to thank our wonderful parent volunteers led by Carmen Phipps, and the local businesses that donated generously to our breakfast and lunch needs: Costco, Darien Doughnut, Heights Pizza, Palmer’s Market, Trader Joe’s, Vavala’s and Whole Foods.”
The Quiz Bowl team’s next tournament will take place in Pennsylvania later in January, where they hope to keep the momentum going and qualify a fourth team to the national competition in April.
The Middlesex Middle School Quiz Bowl Team (contributed)
