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Quiz Bowl team places ninth in championships

By Trent Chaffee '09
April 18, 2007

Saturday, April 14, was a big day for St. Olaf Quiz Bowl team. For the first time in its 10-year existence the team had qualified for the Division II Collegiate Championships in Minneapolis. Competing as one of the top 32 teams in the nation, the Oles finished with a division championship, an overall ninth-place finish and a head-to-head record of 9-4 that included wins over MIT, Stanford University and Vanderbilt University.

Billy Laxen '07, a mathematics and biology major, had the team's best individual performance, placing No. 11 out of 143 competitors. Mathematics major Danny Able '09 was the next highest Ole, finishing at No. 40.

In addition to Laxen and Able, team members that participated in the tournament were Brendan Bailey '07, a mathematics and physics major, team captain Matthias Hunt '07, a mathematics major, and Emily McConnell '07, a biology major.

Quiz Bowl competitions consist of questions and answers on all topics of knowledge. The game is played between two teams of four players each. A moderator reads questions to the teams, and players attempt to buzz in first with the correct answer, scoring points for their team.

The highlight of the tournament came when St. Olaf defeated overall No. 2 seed MIT in their final match to seal their division championship. The team was able to gain and maintain an early lead capitalizing on their strengths. "I have yet to play a team that can outperform St. Olaf in either classical music or biblical questions," Hunt says.

Based on their strong performance during the season, St. Olaf was given a high seed in the tournament, but the players still were pleased with nine victories.

"It was still pretty unreal to be beating schools that had never heard of our college outside of a reference on the Golden Girls," says Hunt.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.