WPHS quiz bowl team to compete in national championship April 25

WEST POINT, Ala. – With its strong finish at the William Rufus King Memorial Tournament, the quiz bowl team from West Point High School proved themselves worthy to play on a national stage.  On Friday, April 25, the team will represent their school in a 148-team national competition:  National Academic Quiz Tournaments’ Small School National Championship Tournament.

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.

West Point has attended the Small School National Championship Tournament 10 times before.  Most recently, in 2024, it entered two teams, both of which made the playoffs, the better finishing in second place.

The SSNCT is the only quiz bowl national championship pitting small schools against each other.  It has one division containing non-selective public schools with 500 or fewer students in their top three grades, and another division for other schools with 350 or fewer students in their top three grades.  

The team comes in with some nationals experience: Sean Harbison, Brodie Henry, Brady Laughlin and John Davis Yovino played the 2024 High School National Championship Tournament in Atlanta, Georgia; Cole Chamblee, Sean Harbison, Brodie Henry, Aaiden Jones, Brady Laughlin, Eli Taylor and John Davis Yovino played the 2024 Small School National Championship Tournament in Rosemont, Illinois (near Chicago); and Brodie Henry played the 2024 Individual Player National Championship Tournament in Rosemont, Illinois (near Chicago).

West Point High School will send two teams to the 2025 SSNCT.  The A team, in the Traditional Public Schools Division, will consist of Sean Harbison, Brodie Henry, Brady Laughlin, Abram Motte and John Davis Yovino.  The B team, in the Traditional Public Schools Division, will consist of Starr Boyd, Cole Chamblee, Aaiden Jones, Alen Lechner and Eli Taylor.  The teams will be coached by Lee Henry.

Tournament results will be updated throughout the three days of competition at http://www.naqt.com/go/stats/16001 so everyone can follow along and see how the team does.