Cowley College Quiz Bowl team places third at NAQT Sectionals

Cowley College took one team of six students to compete at the National Academic Quiz Tournament (NAQT) Sectionals Saturday at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, KS. The team’s top two competitors earned a fourth and fifth place showing individually to help Cowley place third at the tournament.

Coffeyville finished 9-0 and placed first out of six teams, while Cowley tied the Garden City A team with a record of 6-3. However, Garden City had more points to secure second place.

Cowley team members include freshman Zane Hubble (fourth place), sophomore Jacob Denholm (fifth), freshman Ilia Belosludtsev (16th), freshman Melissa Henderson (20th), freshman Shaybree Hanes (22nd), and sophomore Shelby Fuqua, who placed 26th out of 31 participants.

Hubble and Denholm tied for fourth place individually, both answering 29 tossups, but Hubble answered seven power mark questions to Denholm’s two power mark questions, giving Hubble the advantage. A tossup question usually earns 10 points, but in sectionals, a student can earn 15 points if answered before the power mark.

Prior to classes staring on Jan. 18, the team practiced on Zoom six times to prepare for sectionals, which determine whether a team will continue on to the national tournament. The team studied poetry and Chinese history, two difficult subject areas, which improved their outcomes at sectionals. While in Overland Park, the team spent two hours the night before at the Nelson Atkins Museum with a guided tour from Mark Flickinger, Cowley’s art instructor.

Four sectional tournaments occurred on the same day in Florida, Kentucky, Kansas, and online with NAQT for a total of 28 teams participating nationally.

According to Cowley Quiz Bowl sponsor Dianne Flickinger, the team is waiting for an official invitation to nationals since they came in 16th place this year. In the past, only 24 teams are eligible to participate nationally, but last year, due to COVID-19, only 16 teams qualified nationally out of 22 teams who participated in sectionals. 

Cowley student Todd Ketron came ready to keep score and had the honor of scoring every game with the lead moderator, Chad Kubicek, who is also the Chief Financial Officer and Director of Community College Programs.

Rama Peroo | Director of Institutional Communication
Cowley College
125 S. 2nd Street
Arkansas City, KS 67005
rama.peroo@cowley.edu