LSC-O’s Quiz Bowl Team heads to Nationals

Nicholas Barulich and his Lamar State College-Orange team mates are training for an upcoming national competition.

This event isn’t an athletic competition though, but the prep is no less intense.

The Lamar State College-Orange Quiz Bowl team is currently enjoying its best ever season of competition, according to information from LSC-O. For the second time in the five year history of the program, the team qualified for the NAQT Community College Championship Tournament, to be held on February 24-25 at Gulf Coast State College in Panama City, Fla.

The team qualified as the number 12 ranked team among community colleges in the nation, the best ranking in program history.

“We qualified three weeks ago,” Barulich said. “We’re the only team in Texas We’ve come a long way in our two years.”

During the 2011-2012 season, the LSC-O Quiz Bowl team has traveled to tournaments at Gulf Shores, Ala .; Jasper, Ala .; Boaz, Ala. and Summit, Miss. The LSC-O “A” team has an overall season record of 24-14, including a second-place finish at the Sectional Championship Tournament at Summit, Miss., in January.

Members of the LSCO team that will travel to the Community College Championship Tournament are: Nic Lavergne, Nicholas Barulich, Jeff Hoke, Shane Marburger and Matt Cooper. Their sponsor is Eric Owens of the history department.

“We practice twice a week. You need a GPA of 3.76 to be on the team. I also have a full-time job with a family. It’s quite an accomplishment,” Barulich said.

Quiz bowl is a game in which two teams compete head-to-head to answer questions from all areas of knowledge including history, literature, science, fine arts, current events, sports, and popular culture.

For further information, see http://www.naqt.com/cc/cc-quiz-bowl.html.