State College Area High School Captures National Academic Title

Business Wire, June 16, 2000

Business Editors & Education Writers

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 16, 2000

State College Area High School of State College, Pennsylvania, defeated The Governor's School for Government and International Studies to capture the 2000 NAQT National High School Championship Tournament. 52 high school teams representing schools from California to Vermont came to the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta for the tournament, which was sponsored by National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC.

Quiz bowl matches consist of two teams, working both as individuals and together as a team, vying to answer questions about science, literature, history, geography, the fine arts, and current events, mixed with a dose of sports and popular culture. Players try to answer as quickly as possible, sometimes before the moderator has even finished reading them the question.

State College Area was represented by team members Susannah Burrows, Martin Devecka, Niyum Gandhi, Jacob Mikanowski, and Madhury Ray. Their coaches are Julie Gittings and Deb Wells.

State College Area had been undefeated and carried a one-game advantage into the finals, but Governor's School won the first final game 430-395 to force a deciding game. In the deciding game, however, State College won a decisive 625-170 victory.

Other teams in the top 5 included Eleanor Roosevelt High School of Greenbelt MD (3rd); Eisenhower High School of Utica Hills MI (4th); and Walton High School of Marietta GA (5th).

In addition to the team recognition, the top 10 individual scorers were recognized as NAQT Nationals All-Americans. Those players selected were: Kevin Roth from Eisenhower, Jacob Mikanowski of State College Area, Robert Sutton from Duluth High School (GA), Vinita Kailasanath of Eleanor Roosevelt, David James of Aiken High School (SC), Maurice Shelton from Woodward Academy (GA), David Hill from Indian Springs School (AL), Saurabh Vishnubhakat from Parkview High School (GA), Matt Weiner from Governor's School, and Robert Flaxman from Columbia High School (NJ).

The 2001 NAQT High School Championship will be held next June. Teams interested in representing their school in the national competition or in other local competitions sponsored by NAQT should call 1-888-411-6278 or email naqt@naqt.com for more information.