(Chelsea Update would like to thank Dwight Kidder for the information in this story.)
On the weekend of Saturday, May 29, Chelsea High School joined 223 of the top high school quiz bowl teams online for the 2021 High School National Championship Tournament to determine who was the best.
The 2021 High School National Championship Tournament’s field featured 224 teams from 32 states, China, Singapore, and South Korea.
Chelsea’s team was captained by Evan Sing, who was joined by Rachel Bareis, Daniel Budd, Evan Eidt, Peter Fredenberg, and Haley Roush. The team was coached by Eric Sing and Lisa Zocharski.
Chelsea was one of 14 Michigan teams competing at the national championship and finished in 112th place.
Chelsea finished the preliminary rounds with a 4-4 record. And, there were some tense moments. Chelsea defeated St. Dominic Savio from Austin, Texas by the narrow margin of 205-190 during round 3.
Chelsea’s shot at the playoffs ended when they lost to Edison from New Jersey in round 9.
The 2021 edition of the HSNCT was contested entirely through Zoom conferences, and brought together teams from four countries and 32 states to compete over two days of matches.
The online tournament continued a series that began in 1999, and was interrupted in 2020 by COVID-19.
Quiz bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students. Quiz bowl teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology, geography, social science, current events, sports, and popular culture.
The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be an expert in all subject areas. Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.
The tournament champion was Barrington High School of Barrington, Illinois.
