An hour before the start of school on Tuesday, October 24, the high school quiz bowl team piled into the Green Machine. After sweeping the regional competition, Chris, Isabella, Avery Rose, Avi, Ryleigh, and Eli were off to Summerville to compete in the team’s third consecutive SCISA state High School Quiz Bowl competition.

Eager to win after last year’s narrow loss to Pinewood Prep, team members spent the drive in a mock quiz bowl, focusing mainly on art and literature. The girls in the front seats emerged victorious over the boys in the back seat. Confident in their preparations, the team marched into the semifinal, where they would compete against teams from John Paul II and Augusta Christian.

The semifinals were filled with more laughter than expected at an academic competition, as our team struggled with questions involving a variety of flightless birds (“Is it an emu this time?” Isabella asked the moderator, after giving that answer for three out of the four bonus questions), Shakespearean phrases (“That’s a commonly used phrase?” Chris asked incredulously), and various princes. Despite the difficulty, TGS handily won their semifinal, allowing them to compete in the finals after lunch.

The team watched nervously in the first match of the finals as Pinewood Prep lengthened their lead over Wilson Hall as they answered question after question. TGS performed similarly in the next match, beating Wilson Hall by a large margin. The last match began with bated breath – this would decide the 2017 SCISA High School Quiz Bowl champions.

The match was neck and neck. TGS began to pull ahead, making the team think they’d managed to win. Suddenly, Pinewood surged back into the lead after answering a series of questions about jelly beans, eventually winning the match by a margin of only one question. The final score was 185 to 220. “It was so close!” Chris lamented.

“Second place in state is amazing!” Avery Rose said. “I wish we could’ve won, but we did really well!” Exhausted after a long day, the team ate victory pancakes at Lil Pappy’s in Moncks Corner before driving back to the school. Congratulations to the quiz bowl team on their fantastic performance!

by Isabella