Team Dunleavy Takes the Intramural Quiz Bowl Title For the Second Year in a Row

By Emma Rathgeber

After school on Tuesday, February 14th, the Intramural Quiz Bowl Finals were held in the GCHS library Many spectators arrived to witness the intense showdown between Teams Dunleavy, Harrison, and Rebolini. After a nail-biting one hundred fifty questions, Mr Dunleavy and his team of juniors, consisting of Ana Gaztañaga, Maria Gaztañaga, and Tara Murphy, managed to secure the win. However, it was no short road to victory for the quartet.

The first round of the tournament took place on January 31st. Like the two other seeding rounds, the tournament’s fifteen teams were broken up into groups of three. Each group of teams competed in their own room, where they took turns answering a total of one hundred general knowledge questions. By the end of Round 1, Team Slater found itself in first place with a total of 390 points. Not far behind were Teams Dunleavy and McAuley, who secured 380 and 340 points, respectively.

Tensions were high the next week in Room 140, as first- and word second- place Teams Slater and Dunleavy faced each other in Round 2. Team Dunleavy flexed their strength as a trivia powerhouse by taking 370 points that round, while Team Slater was left with only 270 points and Team Hager with 130 Meanwhile, Teams Harrison, Rebolini, Durkin, and McAuley put up the highest scores in their rooms What’s more, Teams Durkin and McAuley each earned a round total of 420 points, which proved to be this year’s highest single-round score in the seeding rounds

The Round 3 matchups gave us all déjà vu, as last year’s championship lineup faced each other once more. Teams Dunleavy, McAuley, and Rebolini played a very close game in Room 136, but, just like last year, Team Dunleavy narrowly edged out the other two with the highest score. However, it was Team Slater who scored the most points that round with a total of 380. At the end of Round 3, Team Dunleavy and Team McAuley were tied for first place, each with a third-round total score of word

1,070 Due to Team Dunleavy’s higher score in their match against Team McAuley, however, they secured the top spot. Following close behind was Team Slater in third and Team Harrison in fourth Teams Durkin, Quigley, and Esposito found themselves in a tie as well, each with a third-round score of 860. To determine these teams’ rankings, which would subsequently determine the teams they would each face in the semifinals, they competed in a fifteen-question faceoff right before the semis. After the quick round, their rooms were decided: Teams Durkin and Quigley would play against Team Dunleavy, while Team Esposito would play against Teams McAuley and Rebolini

Even though Team Esposito technically lost in the brief faceoff, the team members planned for this to happen. Interestingly enough, the team intentionally got questions wrong to better their chances of advancing to the finals By putting up the lowest score in the fifteen-round faceoff, Team Esposito landed in the worddddd semifinals room with the second- and fifth-place teams, saving themselves from having to face the first-place team just yet.

While Team Esposito’s strategy was clever, they were no match for Team Rebolini, who delivered a shocking upset by defeating both Team Esposito and second-place Team McAuley. A similar situation occurred in Room 138, where Team Harrison defeated Team Slater by one question in the tiebreaker round Team Dunleavy, however, blew Teams Durkin and Quigley out of the water in their semifinals room With the second- and third-place teams out of the competition, the semifinals proved to be filled with surprises. Finally, after four hundred questions across the four rounds of competition, Teams Dunleavy, Rebolini, and Harrison punched their tickets to the finals.

On Valentine’s Day, the final three teams congregated in the library after ninth period. Spectators took their seats, and Mr O’Hagan stood at the podium. Through a random selection, it was decided that the first question would go to Team Dunleavy. The returning champs set the tone by nailing the first question and their wordd resulting bonus question. However, Teams Rebolini and Harrison quickly responded by answering each of their question pairs correctly as well From there, the teams seemed to be evenly matched. The game continued, and the teams faced a myriad of questions ranging from bird anatomy to English cuisine Team Rebolini crushed the Shakespeare questions, as expected, but none of the three teachers were prepared for the Taylor Swift trivia thrown at them during the teachers-only set of questions. After an impressive first half, it was clear that Teams Dunleavy and Rebolini had pulled away: they each had 28 points, while Team Harrison had only 14

A short break after the seventy-fifth question gave the teams a chance to regroup Snacks and drinks were served to alleviate the ever-mounting stress of this final matchup When the game resumed, teams were immediately thrown back into action with the “Lightning Round.” In this finals classic, the students from each team had a minute to answer ten questions from a specific category This year’s Lightning Round focused on words with double letters. First up was Team Harrison, who correctly answered seven out of ten wordd questions from the category “Double ‘R’” Next was Team Rebolini, who chose “Double ‘P’” and put up the highest Lightning Round score with nine correct answers. Finally, Team Dunleavy was left with “Double ‘G’”, but still managed to tie with Team Harrison by providing seven correct answers

After the Lightning Round, normal gameplay returned Teams had to answer music questions, drawing on their knowledge of TV show theme songs, reggae, and Lizzo. Mr. O’Hagan was also sure to throw in a handful of math problems, including geometrical proportions and imaginary numbers Just as Mr Rebolini aced the Shakespeare trivia earlier, physics teacher Mr Harrison secured easy points for his team when asked about SI units

Before anyone knew it, the one-hundred-fiftieth question had arrived: The Fifteen-Point Turnaround. Teams Dunleavy and Rebolini were still neckand-neck, Team Dunleavy with 50 points and Team Rebolini with 48. Mr. Harrison and his teammates were still in it, though, with 39 points. For the final question, teams could wager any number of points from zero to fifteen. After Mr. word

O’Hagan announced the final category to be “Infamous History,” the teams discussed their wagers. Mr. O’Hagan walked up to the tables to confirm each team’s bet, then returned to his podium to read the final question. While some teams took a second to think, others immediately began writing their answer In the end, each team came up with the correct response. But the final word outcome depended on how many points each team wagered Teams Rebolini and Harrison each bet the maximum of fifteen points, ending with 63 and 54 points, respectively Team Dunleavy, however, bet fourteen points. After adding that to their previous total, they ended the game with 64 points – and that sealed the deal Team Dunleavy defeated Team Rebolini by one point and wordd secured the victory. After a well-deserved celebration, team members Ana, Maria, Tara, and Mr. Dunleavy gathered around the Intramural Quiz Bowl banner for a photo In the middle, Maria held the IQB Champions plaque, which will soon have their names engraved on it for the second year in a row

Congratulations, Team Dunleavy!