by Kristen Mitchell, Charger Staff
Two of the nation's top quiz bowl teams met in head to head competition at the UT Chattanooga Trevor's Trivia Bob Selcer Memorial Quiz Bowl, and each went home with a win and a loss against each other and overall 11/1 records for the day.
Cookeville High School's Cavalier Academic Team, currently ranked 3rd in the nation for the 2001 ASCN Tournament of Champions in Chicago, and the number one team from Detroit Catholic Central, currently ranked 1st in the nation from the 2001 NAQT High School National, squared off in the championship match at UTC which saw Detroit Catholic claim the overall victory for the day.
In nine preliminary rounds of competition, the Cavalier A-team dominated their division which included a final division match against Detroit Catholic which the Cavs won with a score of 345/240.
"The preliminary round against Detroit Catholic was our toughest match going into the afternoon playoff rounds," said Cavalier coach Carolyn Hawkins. "We knew that we had to play well to stay in the match with them and that's exactly what we did.
But we also knew that we would probably face them again in the championship round, and that they would be ready to come right back at us for the win.
In the final championship match of the day, Catholic took the lead early and never looked back giving the Cavaliers their only loss of the day with a score of 365/200.
For the Cookeville team, senior Sam Matson (600 pts.) and junior Bobby Liu (590 pts.) led the scoring attack while Sophomore Funmi Ojo and junior Tyler Pannell added crucial tossup points and bonus question information for the team which amassed a total of 4,485 team points.
Cavalier Team 2 entered the playoff arena for the first time this season posing a 6/3 overall record going into their afternoon championship rounds, but fell prey to the aggressive Detroit Catholic team in their opening playoff game leaving them at 6/4 for the day.
Playing together for the first time as a competition team, juniors Matt Lynn (250 pts.), Suman Natarajan (270 pts.), and Josh Bohannon (280 pts.) along with sophomore Seth Magdalena (150 pts.) rolled up a total of 2,380 team points to finish in the 8th slot overall.
The Cavalier Varsity 3 team of seniors Kristen Mitchell, Chase Lovellette, Jonathan Dyer, and junior Kristen Gunderson just missed making the top eight teams in the playoff rounds with their 5/4 record in the preliminary matches and 1,760 team points.
On October 27 in one of the largest high school quiz bowl competitions held in the Southeast region the Cavaliers went up against tough competition.
