Academic Team Struggles with First Round Problems in Match Against Urbana and Catoctin
by Nathaniel Mulitauaopele
Academic teams compete on February 10 2017 to win the sixth match of the academic games.
Teams answered questions based on various different topics, and if the question is answered correctly you gain a point, but if not you lose a point.
The teams competing were Walkersville, Catoctin, and Urbana. The first round, which was mostly acronym questions started with an Urbana lead, Catoctin was down by one, and Walkersville dug themselves a hole of negative five points. Too many times they buzzed in without actually knowing what the answer was.
The scores are as follows: Walkersville -5 Catoctin 2, Urbana 5
The next round, the packet round goes well for each team. Urbana gains six points, Catoctin gains six points, and Walkersville gains five points digging themselves out of their hole. However it was not enough to bring them up to any of the other two teams.
The scores are as follows: Walkersville 0, Catoctin 8, Urbana 9
The third round, the math round sees only small gains for two of the teams, Urbana and Walkerville both lose points this round, but they gain more than lost and both at least come out of the round with one point. Counter to the first round team, Walkerville’s third round team waits on questions and makes sure the answer is known, something coach Van Bloem said was the “Walkersville way.”
The scores are as follows: Walkersville 1, Catoctin 8, Urbana 10
The fourth round, the asian cuisine round is where Walkerville starts to catch up. They buzz in quickest for most questions, and answer most of them correctly bringing them up to five points. Catoctin makes no gains, and Urbana takes two points from the round, something both Walkersville and Catoctin would regret the next round.
The scores are as follows: Walkersville 5, Catoctin 8, Urbana 12
The next round, a mixture of various questions is where Urbana runs away with the match. Walkersville loses one point that round, Catoctin again gains no ground, and Urbana takes nine points, lifting them well above both Catoctin and Walkersville, having more points than both teams combined.
The coaches gave their speeches after the round expressing their disappointment. They talked about the team’s weakness, and how they began drifting away from the way they should be doing things.
“I think that a lot of us are buzzing without knowing what the answer is.”said junior Susanna Chen
The loss was “disappointing but we have a lot of potential.” said Katherine Krantz. One of the things they needed to do better was “starting out stronger with the first round to boost our morale throughout the match.” One of the things Krantz hoped to do next round was “Do our best.”
