As a team with all-new players, the Cedar Crest Quiz Bowl team defended its title as the 2023 state champion by becoming the runner-up at this year’s statewide competition.
Read More: Cedar Crest team wins its 1st state ‘Quiz Bowl’ championship; nationals up next
The 33rd annual Pennsylvania State Academic Competition was sponsored by the Pennsylvania State Education Association and held in the House and Senate chambers at the State Capitol in Harrisburg with the permission of Rep. John A. Lawrence.
The competition extends an invitation to the defending state champion — this year, the Cedar Crest Quiz Bowl team — as well as one team per intermediate unit in Pennsylvania.
The Cedar Crest Quiz Bowl team consists of Reed Fretz (grade 12), Jack Reed (12), Vinay Saraiya (12), Viseth Meng (11), and Nathan Meng (10). This year’s team features all-new players, as all of last year’s players have graduated.
The team operates under the guidance of Coach Shane Thomas. Thomas works as a math teacher for the high school, has served as the team’s coach for several years, and was recognized as the PA Quiz Bowl Coach of the Year for the 2021-22 season.
This year’s competition welcomed 19 teams from across the commonwealth that were IU champions. Each team was given the opportunity to play two preliminary matches. The nine teams that scored the most points then competed in the playoffs. Each preliminary and playoff match was between three teams.
According to Thomas, the Cedar Crest Quiz Bowl team won its first preliminary match, ending with a total of 85 points against York Suburban (70) and Armstrong (60). The team went on to win its second preliminary match, scoring 105 points against Mechanicsburg (70) and Berwick (45).
The two preliminary matches resulted in Cedar Crest being the #2 team going into the playoffs. “In the semifinals, things got crazy, when, at the end of regulation, the score was Cedar Crest-70, Hempfield-70, York Suburban-70, so the teams went to a five-question overtime,” Thomas said in a written statement.
In the overtime, Cedar Crest seemingly came out on top with 15 points against Hempfield (10) and York Suburban (0) until the judges awarded a disputed answer to Hempfield. This would have resulted in Hempfield winning the semifinal, but the judges ultimately decided to throw out the question and give Cedar Crest and Hempfield a new question. Cedar Crest earned the points from the question and advanced to the finals.
“In the finals, it was a back-and-forth affair involving all three teams (Cedar Crest, West Chester East, and Upper Dublin), with each team holding the lead at some point in the match,” Thomas said, “but West Chester East converted the final eight questions of the match to come out victorious by a score of WC East-100, CC-80, and Upper Dublin-65.”
The Cedar Crest Quiz Bowl team will continue its season with the second-round WGAL-8 Brain Busters match against the Annville-Cleona Quiz Bowl team. The match is scheduled to air at noon on Sunday, May 12.
The Cedar Crest Quiz Bowl team will also be among 320 teams traveling to compete in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments’ High School National Championship Tournament. The tournament will be held in Atlanta, Georgia, over Memorial Day weekend.
The Cornwall-Lebanon school board will recognize the team and its achievements at its May 20 meeting.
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