Atlanta, GA — The Decatur High School quiz bowl team competed at the 2022 High School National Championship Tournament on Saturday, May 28, and finished in 82nd place.

DHS joined 271 teams from 34 states at the competition at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis hotel, according to a press release.

The team consisted of Finn Daniel, Ben Khayat, Gordon Lichtstein, Keon Sanavandi, Adrien Tirouvanziam, Alex Williams, Lydia Witter, and Jeffrey Yan, and was coached by Alex Sawyer.

Decatur High School was one of 22 Georgia teams competing at the national championship. DHS finished the preliminary rounds with a 6-4 record, which qualified them for the playoffs.

The Decatur team suffered a narrow loss to White Station A from Memphis, Tennessee, 210-190 during round seven and defeated Kickapoo A from Springfield, Missouri by the narrow margin of 225-210 during round 16.

Decatur High was on the brink of elimination when they defeated Sparkman from Harvest, Alabama in round 20 to stay alive in the tournament.  Decatur’s shot at the title ended when they lost to McLean B from Virginia in round 21.

The tournament champion was the A team from Detroit Catholic Central High School of Novi, Michigan.

Quiz bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students.  Quiz bowl teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology, geography, social science, current events, sports, and popular culture.  The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be an expert in all subject areas.  Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.

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