COVID has almost ruined the quizbowl career; however, it didn’t succeed. After canceling at least two tournaments, COVID has finally stopped. During regionals, on the 19th of February, Conway Blue, quizbowl team, won first place! 

The team had a 375 point average, and teammate Ethan Elrod had and average of 14 of  questions answered correctly. 

From the start of the tournament, the scores were insane. Conway Blue won by an ungodly amount of points. This wasn’t the end though. Conway won all games, undefeated, and most teams were most likely quivering at the sight of us. 

The win was expected amongst the team; however, it was not guaranteed.  

Barrett Carter, 14 year old team captain, gave the team a much needed boost of confidence to get them started. He said, “Listen up guys. This tournament determines the rest of our season and we need to play like it. But there is more to quizbowl than answering questions quickly and accurately. We can’t forget that the mental aspect is just as important as everything else. Quiz bowl is about balance. You must balance the fun and the serious. The aggression and the passiveness. But nothing is more important than your mentality. Remember, any game we enter, the team we are playing is terrified of you. We have never lost to any team that is going to be there. Any game we walk into, we are the best team there. We are the best darn team in the state. I know it, [our coach] knows it and I think every single one of you knows it. But we must remember that all of this skill is worth nothing if we don’t put in work. All of this skill is worth nothing if we don’t stay humble. We need to play like a team to win. Be there for eachother, pick someone up when they’re down. And most of all, you should never play like you’re guaranteed a win. Have laser focus on each and every question. Don’t let up for anything, you hear me? Now let’s go out there and win a regional tournament! Y’all with me!”.

Though there were faults, Conway’s Blue team worked hard and obtained a rightful victory, thus destroying any team in their path.