The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
MHS Quiz Bowl team goes to nationals
Varsity players qualify for championship game in Florida
By Daniel Lai, Editor
PUBLISHED: June 21, 2007
As one of their last official duties, six graduating seniors from the Manchester High School Quiz Bowl team competed nationally June 6 in the Academic Championship Tournament in Florida on June 7.
Advertisement
According to varsity team coach and MHS Band Director Jared Throneberry, this is the third consecutive year the team qualified to compete nationally.
"This was quite an accomplishment to do what these kids did," he said. "The core group of kids I have worked with over the years has been the most energetic group we've had."
The team, which finished in ninth place, competed against schools from Colorado, Missouri, New York, Alabama and South Carolina.
"They competed against schools of various sizes," he said. "We were one of the smallest schools in the competition, so considering that, I am quite proud of their achievement."
Throneberry, who has served as the varsity team coach for 10 years along with junior varsity coach Susan Davis, said Quiz Bowl tournaments are set up in the "Jeopardy!" game show style. However, unlike Trivial Pursuit and Jeopardy!, quizbowl players may interrupt the question and answer at any time.
"Each team is pitted against another team from another school and they are given questions by a moderator that the team collectively answers," he said.
At the national level, team members must answer questions individually without the reliance of other teammates for help.
"Our team is made up of a very balanced group of students," he said. "We have someone who is strong in math, another one who is strong in biology, and some who know a lot about literature and the arts."
Over the years, Throneberry said he has enjoyed watching team members grow with each successful local tournament.
"It's amazing to see the amount of knowledge that they have at their disposal," he said. "A lot of that has to do with the teachers in Manchester. It's wonderful to see where these kids are when they start off on the junior varsity level and how much they improve if they stick with it and join the varsity team."
Throneberry said the team has won the division championship against Saline, Chelsea and Dexter over the last three years.
"They are a lot bigger than us and we still manage to do as well as we do," he said. "To me, that shows we have some great kids who work hard to represent Manchester with the best of their abilities.
"It helps to compete locally with larger schools because it prepares them for the challenge of competing nationally."
Throneberry said he is sad to see the graduating seniors leave the team.
"I am extremely proud of them," he said. "I think next year there is going to be some rebuilding to get us up to where we were with this team. You never know though, kids surprise you sometimes."
Throneberry said he plans to continue coaching the varsity team for the time being.
"It takes a lot of work and a lot of time," he said. "I plan on doing it again in the future; I'm just not sure how long I will continue."
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
TOP JOBS
