Scholastic Bowl
Team Second at States;
Stumbles in It’s
Academic
By Chris Varouxis and Stephen
Twentyman (March 3, 2004)
The Scholastic Bowl team narrowly
missed the three-peat on Saturday, losing in sudden-death overtime in the
state finals to Eastern Montgomery, 200-190. Although the team fell shy
of the championship, which it had claimed in both 2002 and 2003, it put
forth a stellar performance, losing by the slimmest of margins. The Mustangs
were represented by Kaitlin Bottock, Evan Cunningham, Rahul Gupta, Joe
Mauro, Teddy Smith, and Stephen Twentyman, all seniors.
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In the eight-team, double-elimination
tournament, Mason lost its first-round match to Eastern Montgomery by a
score of 175-170. Despite this early setback, the team dominated the losers’
bracket, fighting the long road all the way up to the semifinals. Here,
they beat James Monroe by a five-point margin for the rights to a rematch
in the finals. That game tied at the end of regulation, 190-all. Following
the VHSL rules, the game proceeded to a sudden-death overtime, in which
the first score change (either a right answer or a wrong answer that interrupted
the question) would decide. The question, which asked for the creator of
Rip van Winkle, was met with Mason’s quick buzz, but the quick buzz was
met with a brain-delay. The answer, blurted out at the very last moment,
proved too late to be counted and Eastern Montgomery easily answered, "Washington
Irving," to clinch the state title.
The decision was not without a slight
controversy: it was suggested that the timer had not given the full ten
seconds, having rushed the final three. The decision, however, stood as
called, and George Mason finished with a quite respectable second-place
finish in the state. The tournament took place one week after another major
event for the team: its second appearance on the It’s Academic television
show, taped at WRC-4 studios in Washington, DC. Unfortunately, the team
did not enjoy similar success at the taping.
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Scholastic
Bowl member Evan Cunningham receives
the second place
trophy from a VHSL official at last
weekend’s state
championships. The team narrowly
missed scoring
a three-peat as state champs, falling
200-190 to Eastern
Montgomery. From left to right
are team members
Stephen Twentyman, Teddy
Smith, Kaitlin
Bottock, Cunningham, Rahul Gupta,
Joseph Mauro, and
sponsor Mr. Jamie Scharff. |
| Seniors Evan Cunningham
(captain), Rahul Gupta, and Stephen Twentyman left Falls Church shortly
after noon on February 21, bound for NBC studios to tape their second-round
match of It’s Academic. The team burst ahead to a good start when
the show began at 1:15, staying in close contention the whole way up to
the final round. After the first team round, George Mason had 310 points
to Holton Arms’ and Langley’s 300. This would, unfortunately, be the Mustangs’
high water mark.
Following a mid-show commercial break
and a tremendous performance by the Mason cheerleaders who attended, things
began to sour. The team, used to the slower pace and harder questions of
the Scholastic Bowl competitions, lost their edge and were beaten to the
buzzer nearly every time. Illness on the part of some of the players only
compounded the problem, and the final result was 580 points for Holton
Arms, 530 for Langley, and a distant 420 for George Mason. The taping will
air on April 17 at 10:00 AM on WRC-4 TV.
The team indeed proved resilient
as they took the humiliation in stride, getting well and mentally sharp
over the week and putting in an impressive performance at the Scholastic
Bowl states tournament on February 28. |
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Members
of the It’s Academic team played well but
fell to Holton
Arms and Langley High Schools in the
second round of
the It’s Academic show at Channel 4
Studios. From left
to right are Rahul Gupta, Evan
Cunningham, and
Stephen Twentyman. |
Tell us what you think.
E-mail lassogmhs@hotmail.com
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