It was an historic weekend for Livingston High School’s Academic Team Memorial Day weekend in Atlanta, GA. The A Team, consisting of senior Sophia Wu and juniors Robert Wang, Kevin Zhang and Lelun Li, defied the odds and finished third out of 320 teams at the Quizbowl High School National Championship Tournament, beating some of the best teams in the nation and far overperforming its pre-tournament ranking. Not only did they become the first team from Livingston to reach the “super seven” – or quarterfinal stage – they became the best-performing Quizbowl team in New Jersey history at the HSNCT. After a dominating quarterfinal win vs. Heights High School of Texas, they took a tough loss in the semi-finals to Saint Mark’s School of Texas. However, they came back to win a stunning third place game 400-395 against Buffalo Grove, from Illinois, the defending national runner-up, coming from behind to secure the exciting win after the last question to finish the tournament on a high note.
Not to be outdone, Livingston’s B Team, consisting of junior Harish Lolla and sophomores Arav Kaushik, Ethan Liu and Jack Liu, all but one on their first trip to nationals, finished in 65th place and became the first Livingston B team to both make playoffs and win a game in playoffs – which they, too, did on the final question.
Livingston’s C Team, consisting of senior Nishna Makala, juniors Benjamin Laskov, Adam Dacosta, Sophia Peng, sophomore Reesha Stewart and freshman Jon Chin, all first-timers, finished 5-5 and in 175th place out of 320 teams.
"It was truly an incredible weekend for Livingston’s Academic team and testament to the success of our superb teachers who helped grow these students' love for academic knowledge. Congratulations!" said team advisor Guy Rabner. “Hopefully, everyone understands the magnitude of this accomplishment. I’ve been coaching for 25 years and to have our team place higher than any NJ team ever is super special. This team is something truly special."
