Staff writer
Marion High School scholars bowl team earned a chance to compete on television. The team will play on Washburn University’s quiz show, “Quest,” in January.
MHS competed Dec. 5 in the Super Saturday portion of the competition. They and 64 other teams took the same, timed exam. The teams with the 16 best scores advanced to the televised rounds.
Before the event began, coach Doug Vogel told the team he expected approximately 900 points to be enough to qualify for the televised rounds. The team scored 925, good for second place among 3A schools. Independent School of Wichita placed first.
After the exam, teams gathered for an assembly where winners were anounced according to size, as well as which teams advanced to television.
When tournament organizers announced the cutoff score for teams to advance — 925 — MHS teammates breathed a collective sigh of relief, senior Sam Ehrlich said Friday.
Qualifying for the televised rounds is an achievement, senior Eric Vogel said, but he isn’t satisfied.
“You don’t want to settle and get beat after one round,” he said.
The team’s first-round opponent is Washburn Rural High School of Topeka. They will face off Jan. 30 in Topeka. If MHS wins, the team will play the winner of a match between Manhattan and Mill Valley high schools.
Mid Central Activities Association league tournament is the same day, the coach said. He will divide the varsity into two teams, so MHS will be represented at each event.
“Quest” began in 1984 at Washburn University as “High Q.” The televised rounds of the competition aired on WIBW until 2005, when the university’s public television station, KTWU, became the media sponsor.
Schools from larger cities have typically dominated the competition. Through 2008, every champion had been from Topeka, Wichita, Lawrence, Manhattan, or the Kansas City area. That streak was broken in 2009 by Clifton-Clyde High School.
“When I first see the list of schools that qualified for the TV games, I’m always heartened when a school qualifies that hasn’t been to the TV games before or in a very long time — such as Marion,” “Quest” coordinator Dena Anson said Thursday.
Matches will be televised at 11 a.m. Sundays from Feb. 7 to May 17 on KTWU. The university is attempting to make arrangements with Wichita station KPTS to show the competition, Anson said.