On Feb. 4, the Archbishop Carroll Hi-Q team took second place in its final match for the regular season at Interboro High School.
Interboro placed first with 33 points, Carroll collected 16 points, and the Academy of Notre Dame came in third with 11 points.
To make it to the championship matches, Carroll must place within the top seven teams among the schools competing in the matches. Preceding this first match, the team obtained 27 points in its first match and then 25 points in the following match. This brings Carroll’s total count to 68 points, which places Carroll in a slightly below average position.
The first round started with all three teams answering the current event questions correctly. Next, the quiz master asked the biology questions, and Interboro stole two questions from each of the two other teams and gained two points. The match quickly turned in Interboro’s favor as it gained five points in the math section whereas Carroll had only gained two more points by this time. The first round ended with Shakespeare and Geography. The score was now 18-4-7 for Interboro, Notre Dame, and Carroll, respectively.
Despite the vast lead from Interboro, Carroll remained confident.
“I believe we started the match very strong, getting ahead with some quick right answers,” said sophomore Connor Hnat.
Senior MD Sabit was unsurprised by the results.
“It was nothing beyond expectation,” Sabit said. “It was what we expected. We did our research. Interboro came out of nowhere. Our score was within our expectations.”
With the team’s hopes high, Carroll entered into the second half of the match with improved performance.
In the second round, Carroll answered questions vigorously, gaining points in each of the subjects American Government, Toss Up, Art History, and Team Choice. Despite this, Interboro also continued to perform well, making gains in nearly every subject.
At the termination of the match, the final score was 33-11-16 for Interboro, Notre Dame, and Carroll, respectively. This marked the potential end for the Hi-Q season and the official end of Hi-Q for many senior members.
Even though Carroll lost, the team remained positive and optimistic.
“I felt proud of our efforts as a team,” Hi-Q moderator Dr. Tuwalski said. “We were building off of last year’s team’s momentum for this past year. I appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm and the way we represented Archbishop Carroll High School as visitors to Penn Wood High School.”
With the departure of many seniors, some members of the Hi-Q team had hopes for the future of the team.
“The seniors have represented Archbishop Carroll’s Hi-Q with pride and great enthusiasm and I will miss them, but I have confidence these graduating seniors have left a foundation for us to build for greater success for our future teams,” said Dr. Tuwalski.
The team’s leader agreed.
“I think it will be good for them to continue the journey,” Sabit said. “We made a very good impact in the past few years of Hi-Q.”
