ROSEMONT, Ill. – On the weekend of Saturday, April 29, West Point High School joined 131 of the top quiz bowl teams from small public high schools at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago for the 2023 Small School National Championship Tournament to determine who was the best. West Point finished in eighth place in the Traditional Public Schools Division.
Quiz bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students. Quiz bowl teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology, geography, social science, current events, sports, and popular culture. The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be an expert in all subject areas. Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.
The team, in the Traditional Public Schools Division, consisted of Sean Harbison, Brodie Henry, Brady Laughlin, Abigail Roy, Eli Taylor and John Davis Yovino. The team was coached by Lee Henry.
West Point was one of four Alabama teams competing at the national championship.
West Point began the preliminary rounds with a 10-game winning streak, in which they defeated Pettisville A from Ohio; Lawton-Bronson from Iowa; Itawamba Agricultural from Fulton, Mississippi; Shelby from Ohio; West Iron County from Iron River, Michigan; Triopia from Concord, Illinois; West Shamokin from Rural Valley, Pennsylvania; Southern Boone from Ashland, Missouri; South Nodaway from Barnard, Missouri; and Weld Central B from Keenesburg, Colorado. They finished the preliminary rounds with a 10-0 record, which qualified them for the playoffs.
West Point’s shot at the title ended when they lost to Batavia from Ohio in round 19.
Brodie Henry was honored as an All-Star for correctly answering 104 tossup questions – 36 of them for “power,” that is, so early as to earn extra points – in the preliminary rounds.
West Point High School finished in eighth place in the Traditional Public Schools Division.
The Traditional Public Schools Division champion was Fair Grove R-X School Fair Grove, Missouri. The Open Division champion was the A team from BASIS Independent McLean McLean, Virginia.
The 2023 Small School National Championship Tournament (Traditional Public Schools Division)’s field featured 77 teams from 20 states.
