MHS Quiz Bowl Advances to State Tournament

By Shreetika Gyanwali – (SUBMITTED BY: MHS Bear Facts)

The Mena High School Quiz Bowl team qualified to compete in the state tournament in in Dardanelle, on Saturday, April 1, 2017, after attending the regional tournament at Ashdown on March 10. They received a trophy for placing second out of seven total teams that competed in regionals.

They faced Ashdown, Mena’s rival, for game 1 of the seeding rounds. The score after the first half was 40 points for Ashdown and 110 for Mena. Mena accumulated 130 points in the second half and Ashdown accumulated 120. Mena won with a final score of 240-160, a difference of 9 questions. For the second game in seeding rounds, Mena was up against Arkadelphia. After the first two quarters were played, Mena was losing 65-90. However, they caught up in the bonus round by answering all but 2 of the 10 questions correctly while Arkadelphia answered 4 questions correctly, including 3 of Mena’s incorrect questions. After the second half, Mena accumulated 120 points while Arkadelphia only accumulated 90. The final score for game 2 was 185-180, Mena won by a difference of half of a question. For game 3, Mena played Malvern. Malvern did not acquire any points in the first quarter, which put Mena ahead with 40 points. After the first half, the score was 65-40, with Mena taking the lead. Mena won the game 145-130 after Malvern acquired 90 points in the second half while Mena acquired 80. After lunch, Mena faced Nashville. Nashville took the lead after the first half with a score of 75-60. In the second half of the game, Nashville scored 130 points and Mena scored 100, resulting in a final score of 205-160. Nashville was the only team that Mena lost to during that tournament. For game 5, Mena went up against Fountain Lake. Fountain Lake was in the lead during the first quarter with a score of 60-20, but Mena caught up during the 2nd quarter, scoring 40 more points than Fountain Lake. After the first half, Mena and Fountain Lake were tied at 80 points and had to flip a coin to determine which team would receive first pick in the bonus rounds. Mena won the coin toss and chose famous composers. According to Mena’s QB members, Sophomore Fisher Neufeld’s knowledge of composers led the team to victory. Mena answered all of their bonus questions, which allowed another 20 points to be added to the score. Fountain Lake answered 4 of their 10 bonus questions. Mena was ahead 200-120. In the fourth quarter, Nashville scored 70 points while Mena scored 20. Mena won with the score of 220-190. Mena practiced in the bye room for game 6 due to an uneven number of teams present, They practiced using questions from game 6 that other teams played. For the last game, game 7, Mena faced Waldron. After the first half of the game, Mena was ahead with a score of 110-75. After the second half, Mena had acquired 150 points while Waldron acquired 120. Mena won with a final score of 260 to 195. After all games were played, the judges calculated all points and wins acquired by all 7 teams.

With Mena qualifying for the Quiz Bowl State Tournament, it ends a multiple-year drought of Mena not reaching state tournament competition. MHS Quiz Bowl Sponsor Mysti Gates said the team fought through the first round of eliminations in the State Tournament and passed the first round of eliminations. However, when facing Hamburg in the second round, they fell to a very close game. Gates said, “Our season comes to an end and we begin preparing for next year.”

Mena’s 2016-17 Quiz Bowl team consists of the following students: Saujal Gyanwali, Braden Purvis, Christopher Thompson, Fisher Neufeld, Mark Castillo, Colby Murphy, Patrick Morgan, D’Kota Odom, Jarred Harley, Trey Brown, Karley Cline, Emiley Sorge, and Dylan Dodd.

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Jeri Pearson

Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.

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