The Paw Print

By: Isabella Sun

Scholastic Bowl is a quiz-based competition that tests a wide variety of different subjects. Participants answer questions that demand quick recall of facts ranging from all academic subjects as well as general knowledge, like arts, sports, and current events. This tough competition demands a lot of effort and time and Payton’s Scholastic Bowl team has certainly shown their hard work through their many successes and achievements. 

Addison Baker, the number one player in Varsity team A said “I think I’d say I spend 2-3 hours on average daily on quizbowl things outside our twice-weekly practice enrichments. There’s an online database of quiz bowl questions, so I read large amounts of those and Google things I don’t know and personal research rabbit holes.”

Payton’s Scholastic Bowl’s varsity team members have been doing exceptionally well in many of the competitions that they have attended. Back on November 18, 2023, the Scholastic Bowl varsity team competed at IHSSBCA kick-offs. Payton qualified for the PACE National Scholastic Championship by making it into the top 15% of teams at the kickoff where they competed. Payton is one of the 72 teams to have qualified for nationals. They are also one out of 25 schools from Illinois and one out of the 2 schools from Chicago to participate. Both varsity teams will be competing in Virginia from June 7th to June 9th. 

On February 17, the varsity team competed in the Illinois Masonic Academic Bowl at Hinsdale Central. They took second place in sectionals, having their 4th win in a row this year over Northside College Prep, which has been the best finish by any CPS team in their 30+ year history of this state tournament.

On February 24, Scholastic Bowl traveled downstate to make their debut at the State Finals. Varsity A Team and Varsity B Team competed in the NAQT/IHSSBCA Illinois State Championship at Centennial High School in Champaign. 

Varsity team A won an impressive 7th place which is an all-time best finish at state for CPS teams, and the third-highest finish in history among any teams from Chicago. Varsity team B also did a fantastic job, placing 25th. Karl Barnickol, a member of the Varsity A team, posted high individual scoring statistics over the day, including a 6-tossup match that helped lead Payton to within inches of defeating the defending national champion Barrington A team.

Karl Barnickol 24’ said “The NAQT/IHSSBCA Illinois State Championship was really fun because I think we surprised a lot of the top teams in the state by playing all of them in very close games that they were not expecting. Our performance that day definitely cemented Payton as a top Scholastic Bowl team in the state.”

Also, on March 4, Payton hosted the IHSA Scholastic Bowl competition after school, where varsity won regional quarterfinals against Fenton with an outstanding score of 800-50. They then advanced again after winning the regional semifinals against DePaul College Prep with a score of 640-200. Then, Payton won against tough opponents from Maine East, securing the 2024 2A Regional Championship and their placement in the sectional competition on March 9th.

For sectional competitions, Scholastic Bowl won 3-0, advancing to states on March 16th. They had great matches with their first two opponents, Hinsdale and Fenwick, and were able to seize a victory against their tough opponents from F.W. Parker, with scores of 560-270, 540-310, and 440-390 respectively. Payton has become the first ever Scholastic Bowl team from Chicago Public Schools to advance to this tournament, ever since its creation 38 years ago. They are also the 4th school from any high school to reach 2A States Finals.

Matias Roa 24’ said “I think we did really great as a team. We’ve beaten a lot of teams that gave us big trouble in the past to get to state, and done incredibly well in the positions we’ve been put in. I spend about an hour or two a week…we’ve all put in so much work to get to this point.”

Mr. Taylor, a Chemistry teacher at Payton and the coach of the Scholastic Bowl team, said, “My heart rate was so high through this match, that my Fitbit thought I was doing cardio. That game came down to the wire, and we managed to pull it off when Parker buzzed in incorrectly on an American literature question that both teams had mistakenly predicted would be about British lit. There’s a tendency in this activity to have a really strong team but you might narrowly lose Sectionals by a hair due to one or two questions. I’m just absolutely thrilled for our team that they were able to pull it off and not let that happen!”

On March 16, the Scholastic Bowl team competed at IHSA State Competition in Normal, Illinois. They finished 1-2, finishing 3rd place in their pool and tying for 5th place against tough opponents. This is the second-best finish by any team from across Chicago in the history of the Class 2A IHSA state tournament.

Connolly Nugent ‘26 said “I think it’s really cool that we were the first CPS school to make it to Scholastic Bowl IHSA state. It’s a super competitive tournament because only one team from each regional goes to sectionals and only one team from each sectional goes to state. I’m really happy with how we did this year and I can’t wait for next year!”

Their performance included a victory over Flossmoor and accumulating the most points against 1st place team Buffalo Grove, who is also #3 in the nation, with a close score of 370-440. This was the closest any team has placed in Illinois against Buffalo Grove, including sectional competitions against Barrington and Fremd, ranking #1 and #9 in the country respectively.

Payton outscored Buffalo Grove on tossup questions, 12-11, being the third team all year to accomplish this feat, the other two being done by Barrington. This was also the only time it affected Buffalo Grove’s tournament placements. Despite the loss, this was the strongest match that our school’s varsity team has ever played, in the team organization’s entire 3-year history of competing.

Head Coach Taylor proudly said, “This was absolutely phenomenal. Given the circumstances at the State Finals (being down one of our best players, getting stuck in a pool with two extremely strong teams) the team more or less reached the ceiling of our potential. Even though this was a loss, the team played a magnificently strong match and came closer than anybody to beating Buffalo Grove. We are immensely proud of this performance, it was a true magnum opus of the team. Every other match official was visibly in shock when they were told that we almost beat Buffalo Grove.”

The Scholastic Bowl team prepared extremely hard for these competitions. If you see any Scholastic Bowl members in the hallways, be sure to congratulate them for their many victories this season!