Sophomore Alyssa Hobson sat poised over her buzzer, her face scrunched in concentration, listening intently as a science question got called, “Name the phylum that includes species that display cephalization, bilateral symmetry, and…”

She waited a moment and then sprang forward, pressing down on the practice buzzer and interrupting the question.

“Mollusca,” Hobson said.

She received an encouraging nod from Quiz Bowl sponsor Mary Beth Mattingly, who then proceeded to read the next question to the group.

Team members like Hobson specialized in certain areas of knowledge, all varying in depth and abstractness, such as knowing a former president’s current address to a complicated mathematical formula. This specialization of information contributed to making the Quiz Bowl team strong.

“I think students have natural subjects that they’re good at,” Mattingly said. “They almost divide themselves into different areas and from there we have a well rounded team. This helps us to be stronger as a whole.”

Having a variety of students who all excel at different subjects helped the team, enabling them to depend on each other for different areas.

“We have a nice blend of information when we’re all together and for someone like me, who dislikes math, it’s nice to know some of the other members are there to cover for me,” senior Zach Zarnstorff said.

The team practiced around four times every week, preparing for tournaments by going over questions and concepts that could show up during rounds.

Hobson explained how she used the many practices to help her excel at tournaments.

“When I hear the information during practice and then have to think about it, it helps me retain the information a little better,” Hobson said. “I personally focus the most on English and science questions. I’ll even write down some of the questions I didn’t know so I can go back to them later and learn them.”

Overall the team couldn’t wait to put all of their hard work and collaboration to good use.

“We have an awesome team this year, with a lot of cooperation and team work,” Mattingly said. “There is really just an overall positive attitude with the team.”