Recovering capably from last week’s disappointing losses to Rappahannock and Strasburg, the George Mason Scholastic Bowl team confidently dominated this week’s competition. The team won all three of its games against Clarke County, Manassas Park, and Rappahanock County and proved its reputation as a strong contender for the District -- and quite possibly the Regional and State -- championship.

The second match of the Scholastic Bowl season was held Monday night at Manassas Park High School. The Mason team was led by senior team captain Dan McDonald, senior Alex Douglas, and sophomore Margaret Lipman. Also contributing to the team’s success were juniors Bjorn Westergard and Hilary Colton, as well as freshman Peter Davis. Scholastic Bowl coach Jamie Scharff also played an extremely important role in the team’s victory.

The questions dealt with a wide range of eclectic subjects, from the Mariel Boat Lift to Transylvania, glasnost and perestroika to Helmut Kohl and constitutional amendments, Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion to George Elliott, trigonometry, Daniel Webster, and even parasitic plant fungus.

The preceding week’s match – the first of the season – did not result in such a welcome outcome. Although Mason defeated Manassas Park by over 100 points (a trend continued this week), the team narrowly lost their games against Strasburg and Rappahanock by 15 and five points, respectively.

With half of the season’s 12 games completed, Mason now has a 4-2 record. The team is upbeat about the remainder of the season, especially the Bull Run District Tournament on January 29. The Scholastic Bowl team is looking to continue Mason’s strong legacy of Scholastic Bowl success at the District Tournament, and hopefully extend that success to the Regional and State Tournaments, where past Mason teams have also been victorious. Last year’s team garnered second place in the State, while the teams of the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 seasons were State champions.

The next match for the Mason team is scheduled for Monday, December 13 at 6:00 p.m. at George Mason—the team’s only home meet of the season.