News

1/22/13

Quiz Bowl Victories from Houston

Once again, Cistercian Quiz Bowl players descended into the lions’ den of Houston to compete in the Texas Rodeo Quiz Bowl Invitational held at Seven Lakes HS in Katy, Texas, and managed to vanquish a field of 30 teams.

First Place:

The Fabulous Four were more like the Typhus Trio with 3 of 4 members experiencing health issues, but THE CONQUEST MUST GO ON! While playing all the major teams in the state (St. John’s; LASA; Bellaire) they simply couldn’t be stopped. Along the way, there were definitely some cliffhangers like the Championship Finals which came down to the last question which we pulled out of the Celestial Ether faster than I can say, “Whoa!”! Do you know how many different ways Pascal’s Triangle and Polynomials can be obscurely stated? Ask me!

Our Seniors managed to go through the morning rounds with a record of 6-0 along with the highest seeding for the Championship rounds. Then once again, a 4-0 run of perfect games gave them a final 10-0 record and the tournament win!

Third Place:

One of the great stories of this tournament was our “B” team’s play. These guys have had to carve out practice time, recruit members, and step up to the kind of play our “A” team has been doing – and they are well on their way!. In this competition, the “B” team of all Juniors also had a perfect run in the morning of 6-0 and the 3rd ranked seeding going into the Championship rounds. They managed to power their way past St. John’s and LASA, only to come up 1 question short in a semi-finals loss to Harmony Science Academy (Austin charter school).

Ninth Place (tie)

Of all the ‘team tales’ still to be told, the four members of our “C” team put in, perhaps, the most outstanding performance. Having NEVER played together as a team before, seniors, sophomores, and freshmen managed to compile a morning record of 5-1 and have a 10th place seed going into the Championship rounds. They continued two more rounds in the afternoon and finished up with cumulative record of 6-2.

Individual Rankings

The individual stats kept in a tournament are another indicator of performance and CPS had some fantastic results. Out of 127 competitors, we had THREE of the top ten performers, including the #1 player. While individual stats tend to overlook the players who are there helping with the bonus questions, these numbers do give you, Gentle Reader, yet one more reason to marvel at Cistercian’s accomplishments.

National Rankings

Whether or not these results will affect our national ranking is anyone’s guess. Lots of tournament each week have to be processed and compared. One’s rankings are like the stock market: short-term rises and falls occur all the time. Consistency is the name of the game.

Parents

Without our parents we have no program: Dr. Konduri, Mrs. Losson, Mr. Hellinghausen, Mr. Maymir. Mr. Weldon – You are da BEST!

Fr. Gregory AKA Grand Poobah