Nine ASU students are packing their bags and heading to California to represent ASU in a regional tournament Saturday.
The Academic Bowl team from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a separate student organization team, the Sun Devil Bowl, are participating in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments competition for the first time at UCLA.
Academic Bowl member Erin Hutchinson, a history and global studies senior, said though schoolwork and preparing for the competition is hard work, it is worth it, and she has high hopes for the team this year.
“The pressure is on,” she said. Her team placed seventh in the nation last year at the College Bowl competition.
Fifteen college teams from ASU competed in the Academic Bowl competition. And for the second year in a row, the CLAS were the last ones standing.
And though practicing for the regional tournament has been exciting, Hutchinson said, about two weeks ago the team received some distressing news.
A member of last year’s Academic Bowl team, Eli Bliss, passed away in a bicycle accident.
“It’s really sad and unexpected, and it has been tough going to practice,” Hutchinson said.
Bliss’ knowledge was an essential part of the team last year, said Academic Bowl team member Kenneth Lan, a biological sciences and biological engineering sophomore.
“Last year [the CLAS team] beat Herberger [College of the Arts’ team] by one toss-up question, which allowed us to go on and pull out the other two teams,” Lan said. “Eli got that question.”
The CLAS team members that knew Bliss will be competing with him in their thoughts this year, Hutchinson said.
And with Bliss’ memory in mind, Academic Bowl members have been preparing to be strong competitors, Hutchinson said.
“[The team] has been meeting twice a week, even through winter break, as well as quizzing ourselves on our own, looking through old notes and textbooks,” said Hutchinson’s sister, Mary Beth Hutchinson, a history and religious studies sophomore, also an Academic Bowl team member.
During the meetings, the Academic Bowl team and the Sun Devil Bowl team compete against each other, said Academic Bowl coach and astrophysics graduate student Brian Gleim.
As the coach, Gleim moderates the rounds in practice and reads the questions, he said.
Gleim said working with the teams “shows that there is a lot of really good quiz bowlers on campus,” and he hopes to work with more events in the future.
“This year’s group is really great because they have a wide variety of interests,” Gleim said.
Reach the reporter at abigail.gilmore@asu.edu.
