Chelsea’s Quiz Bowl team went to nationals for the first time on Saturday, May 29th. They had qualified for nationals in 2019 and 2020 but couldn’t go because of lack of a funding and COVID.

There were 229 teams at nationals, and Chelsea was ranked 121. They ended up coming in 112th.

“We all felt pretty good about it,” Quiz Bowl team member Peter Fredenberg (‘22) said. “We got to play against the second best team in the country which was really cool.”

The team qualified for nationals this year by winning the Tri County League.

“You need to finish in the top 15% of a large tournament to qualify,” team captain Evan Sing (‘22) said. “That happens, normally, by either getting first or second place.”

Nationals take place over two days, and on the first day the teams play 8 games and the teams that win at least 5 of those games move on to the next day. Chelsea won 4 of their games so they didn’t get to go to day two.

“All the teams get a rank at the start,” Fredenberg said. “After each game the tram either moves up or down the rank based on if you win or lose, and that determines who you’ll be playing in the next game.”

The team was happy with how they performed this year at nationals, but they are setting even bigger goals for next year.

“It was a really great experience just getting to be with everybody,” Fredenberg said. “Next year I’m hoping we can get in the top 70.”