The Scholastic Bowl team continued its successful season with a first place win at the Bull Run District Tournament last Saturday at Rappahannock High School. This is the sixth consecutive season in which a George Mason team has won the District Tournament and advanced to Regionals.

The Mason team entered the District Tournament with a 9-3 season record which made them the first seed in the competition and gave them a bye for the first round of the match. GM faced off against home team Rappahannock when they entered the competition in the second round. Mason won 155 - 120, although the victory was much narrower than the team had bargained for. GM then advanced to the next round to take on Clarke County. Making up for the marginal lead they had held in the last round, the Mason team defeated Clarke with a score of 300 - 55 and set a Bull Run District record in the process. The final round featured Mason against Strasburg, although both teams were guaranteed spots in the Regional competition. Nevertheless, Mason still defeated its competitors with a resolute win of 230 - 90. The team answered questions on subjects ranging from Windsor Castle to the Enlightenment thinkers, from Emily Dickinson to Mary I, from the closed universe theory to systems of equations. The team was led by senior captain Alex Douglas (who proved invaluable to the team's success), senior Dan McDonald, sophomore Margaret Lipman, junior Bjorn Westergard, and senior Casey Smirniotopoulos.

Members of Mason’s Scholastic Bowl team answer practice questions before winning all three of their  matches in the District Tournament and qualifying for the sixth year in a row to move on to regionals.

In addition to coach Jamie Scharff and the rest of the Scholastic Bowl team, several parents and family members also attended the competition.

"This is our sixth consecutive district championship, but it also might be the most gratifying because we had such a turnover this year. We had all new students on the team yet were still able to keep our streak of winning going," said coach Scharff after the competition's conclusion.

Along with 2nd place finisher Strasburg, Mason now advances to the Region B Tournament, which will also be held at Rappahanock High School on Saturday, February 12.