On the weekend of Saturday, April 27, Danville High School joined 142 of the top quiz bowl teams from small public high schools at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare Chicago for the 2024 Small School National Championship Tournament to determine who was the best.

Quiz bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students.  It is the national version of the game that is often locally called Quick Recall.  Quiz bowl teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology, geography, social science, current events, sports, and popular culture.  The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be an expert in all subject areas.  Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.

The team, in the Traditional Public Schools Division, consisted of Kaiden Earle, Madeline Purdom, Carsen Wastell, and Sam Wilson.  The team was coached by Rob Kremer.

Danville was one of seven Kentucky teams competing at the national championship. Danville finished the preliminary rounds with a 7-3 record, which qualified them for the playoffs.

There were some tense moments.  Danville defeated Southwestern from Piasa, Illinois by the narrow margin of 215-205 during round 14.

Danville’s shot at the title ended when they lost to Salem from Ohio in round 16.

Carsen Wastell was honored as an All-Star for correctly answering 81 tossup questions in the preliminary rounds.

Danville High School finished in 33rd place in the Traditional Public Schools Division.

The Traditional Public Schools Division champion was Hastings High School Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.  The Open Division champion was the A team from St. Mark’s School of Texas Dallas, Texas.

The 2024 Small School National Championship Tournament (Traditional Public Schools Division)’s field featured 88 teams from 24 states.

ABOUT NAQT

National Academic Quiz Tournaments, founded in 1996, organizes the premier middle school, high school, and college quiz bowl championships in North America.  In addition to its national championships, NAQT provides questions to invitational tournaments, league championships, and television shows throughout the year.  NAQT operates out of the Twin Cities and Kansas City, but its members mentor coaches, host tournaments, volunteer their services, and share their expertise across the United States.