February 6, 2023 by Eliza Krackeler (’24)
For the Toga students who live and breathe trivia, the recent North Country Quizbowl (NCQB) at Queensbury High was the optimal place to show off their knowledge and mental stamina. The Saratoga Springs High School (SSHS) Academic Team competed in this tournament last month at Queensbury High School against rival South Glens Falls, among other schools, in an intense revisiting of past head-to-head matchups.
Toga’s team for the competition consisted of members Maggie and Emma Anthes, Adam Brown, Lauren Ellnor, Charlie Heck, AJ Martin, Mia Pashoukos, Isabelle Savage, Harrison Schuck, Nixon Simpson, and Seth Tremper. This mix of students created an unstoppable force at the NCQB competition on January 18th.
For Brown, a junior, preparing together as a group was not the ultimate key to success in competitions like these. While after-school team meetings were undoubtedly necessary, it was more a matter of simply using their current knowledge to the best of their ability. “There’s not much done to expand our knowledge base other than just going about our day to day lives. You just have to go into the tournament cold knowing what you know,” Brown said.
Which seemed to work out well for him. In the second game against Fort Ann, Brown was faced with a series of similarly oriented questions on German history. With his wealth of knowledge on the subject, Brown was able to answer every single question before they even finished reading them out. Affectionately termed his “blitzkrieg” by teammates Maggie and Emma Anthes, it’s safe to say this moment was a highlight for the whole of the Academic Team.
However, it wasn’t a straight path to victory. Nerves were a great factor in the crucial time leading up to the start of the tournament. Brown acknowledged that “the most nerve-wracking part is right beforehand, because it’s just you and the other team and you haven’t sat down to see what they can do, you just have to anticipate what they will do.” However intimidating a sentiment, this was a factor each member of the team had to contend with at NCQB.
Going into the tournament, the opposing team of South Glens Falls gave Mrs. Gebhard, Coach of the Toga Academic Team, reason for concern. She said, “We alternate between winning and coming in second place with this team every year.” Speaking from past experience it was expected to be a tight match, and as the competition progressed, it proved to be just that.
The SSHS Academic Team came back from a staggering sixty points behind, with the decider eventually coming down to Emma Anthes in the finals with a sudden death toss up. Particularly well-versed in mythology, Anthes buzzed in to answer the final question on Orpheus to take it home. “Our team swarmed her. We were so excited,” Maggie Anthes said.
Winning has become commonplace for the team. With only one loss to Bethlehem and a respectable position at the top of the overall scoreboard with five wins in the tournament, Toga has high hopes for the rest of the season. Mrs. Gebhard said, “Our team has done extremely well this year. We even have members of both teams that have qualified for three different National tournaments.” The next step is a big one, with Pace in Chicago and the Atlanta National Quiz Bowl in their future.