The Quiz Bowl team won the It’s Academic Washington D.C. Semifinals April 16 with a score of 585 points, beating out Churchill by 70 and Sandy Spring Friends by 185.

The win secures Whitman its first spot since 1992 in the It’s Academic Washington D.C. Finals on May 14.

The semifinal competition consisted of three teams of three competing in five consecutive rounds, in which the teams were asked questions on a variety of topics. Certain rounds required teams to buzz in before their competitors for the chance to answer, and points were awarded for correct answers and detracted for wrong ones.

Whitman’s squad was created when the Semifinalist competitors—seniors Sam and Will Arnesen and Luke Rychlik—were sophomores; their collective experience over the past three years has been their biggest asset, Rychlik said.

“I’m glad that three years of competing together has paid off, and that we have a shot of winning this,” Rychlik said. “When I first started Quiz Bowl, I didn’t even know if I’d be on the competition team, let alone make it to finals.”

The team’s chemistry allowed them to form the communication skills necessary to react quickly in rounds, and be successful in the qualifying tournaments.

Though buzzer speed is important, the team’s biggest focus was on answering questions correctly, Rychlik said.

“One of the main ways to do poorly is to buzz and get a question wrong, because they subtract points,” Rychlik said. “We’ve been very careful this year and haven’t buzzed and gotten one wrong in two games by waiting until they ask the question instead of relying on the initial miscellaneous information of the question.”

During the competition, Whitman didn’t miss a single question. By missing two of eight questions in the fourth round, Sandy Spring Friends missed out on bonus points that put the other teams far ahead, and rushed answers tripped up Churchill as they tried to catch up to Whitman’s lead in the final round, Arnesen said.

The team will compete in the finals against Quince Orchard and Blake May 14. If Whitman wins, they’ll play against the winner of the Baltimore Finals in the It’s Academic Super Bowl for a $10,000 prize.

Though finals are the day after the prom, coach Laurie Safran said she is confident in her team.

“Although it immediately follows prom and after-prom, I know the team wants to win the big game,” Safran said.“I think the prospects are very strong for their success in the final round.”

Will Arnesen was the online managing editor for Vol. 54 of the Black & White.