For three days in early January, 24 students from across the
state of Texas participated in the first ever Texas Quiz Bowl Winter
Training Camp in New Bruanfels. The students participated in 20 practice
matches, attended lectures about learning theories applicable to quiz
bowl, and participated in seminars about the construction and writing of
tossups. Each student focused on one of British Literature, European
History, Chemistry, or Thinkers.


Fifty
teams from across the state of Texas participated in the fifth edition
of the Houston Holiday Hoedown on Saturday at Yes Prep in South Houston.
Belton High School and St. John’s School won the red and black
divisions respectively. Full Stats are available
here.
Red Top 8: Belton A, St. Mark’s C (2nd), Awty (3rd), Clements B (3rd), Clements A (5th), Debakey B (5th), Parish (5th), Cistercian D (5th)
Black Top 8: St. John’s Virtue, Cistercian A (2nd),
LASA Grasshopper (3rd), LASA Cricket (3rd), Bellaire (5th), St. John’s
Faith (5th), Harmony A (7th), St. Mark’s A (7th)
Belton is the
18th school
to win a Texas Quiz Bowl tournament. St. John’s School is the all-time
winningest program in TQBA history; this victory is its 17th tournament
win.
Texas Quiz Bowl’s next two varsity events will be the
Winter Rodeo in Houston on January 19, 2013 and
Bexar Bowl in San Antonio on February 2, 2013. Registration for both events is open.

Holy Family Catholic School (Austin) won both the white and green
divisions at this past weekend’s TQBA Middle School Holiday Hoedown
hosted at the Village School. Holy Family’s winning teams defeated teams
from Kealing Middle School and Village Middle School respectively in
the white and green finals. A total of 19 teams participated in the
event.
Full Statistics from the event are available
here.
Texas Quiz Bowl next’s Houston-area middle school event will be the
Junior Rodeo on February 16, 2013. The 4th annual Texas Quiz Bowl Middle
School Championships will be held on March 23, 2013.
Playoff Results
Quarterfinals
[White] Holy Family A 410 St. John’s 290
[White] Village A 310 Rogers 295
[White] Kealing Red 355 Kealing Black 280
[White] Kealing Squirrels 395 Beck 255
[Green] Village B 315 McMeans B 175
[Green] Holy Family C 275 McMeans A 185
[Green] Holy Family B 405 St. Michael’s 205
[Green] St. Clare A 255 St. Thomas More 210
Semifinals
[White] Kealing Squirrels 395 Village A 230
[White] Holy Family A 390 Kealing Red 290
[Green] Holy Family B 395 St. Clare A 105
[Green] Village B 320 Holy Family C 195
Finals
[White] Holy Family A 355 Kealing Squirrels 330
[Green] Holy Family B 410 Village B 195

Dallas St. Mark’s made its season debut in TQBA competition,
claiming the high school and middle school titles at the Metroplex
Challenge at Greenhill School in Addison. Full stats can be found
here.
The St. Mark’s A team of Alex Choy, Sam Libby, Kobi Naseck and Mitch
Lee avenged their only defeat of the day in the final, topping the St.
Mark’s B underclassmen group of Raymond Guo, William Sydney, Ryan
O’Meara and Connor Olson. Both teams were 9-1 on the day.
An all-sophomore St. Mark’s team went 5-3-1 to finish third, while Cistercian’s freshmen went 4-4 to finish fourth.
Libby led the varsity event with 64.5 points per game.
St. Mark’s went 7-1 to win the middle school tournament, with
eighth-grader Patrick Magee leading the way with 65 ppg. A 7-2 St.
Monica’s squad came in second.

Texas Quiz Bowl is pleased to announce its first ever Winter
Training Camp. This camp is aimed at precocious secondary quiz bowl
players from the state of Texas who wish to develop their skills during
the holiday break and hope to compete with the Texas All-Star team this
year or in future years.
The camp will be held from January 2, 2013 through January 5, 2013 at the
La Quinta in New Braunfels.
This camp is open to current 7th through 12th graders. Check-in on
Wednesday (Jan 2) will be from 1:00 p.m. through 3:00 p.m. We will start
our camp will a tournament on Wednesday. Check-out on the Saturday
(Jan 5) will be between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. following another tournament.
This camp will focus on four categorical areas: British Literature,
Chemistry, European History, and Thinkers. Each student should include
their choice of categorical focus with registration. Materials provided
at the camp will include an in-depth study guide to lead student
through robust learning of their subject. Students are encouraged to
bring laptops and smart phones to camp (though they are not required).
Wi-Fi will be available and these devices will assist in the learning
process.
Full details are available here:
http://www.texasquizbowl.org/camp/2013-winter-camp/


At Saturday’s Bayou City Challenge, Clements A (Fort Bend) and
Fulmore Middle School (Austin) finished undefeated and won the varsity
and middle school green divisions respectively. This is the first ever
TQBA tournament victory for both schools. A total of 48 Texas teams
competed at Strake Jesuit High School in three divisions: varsity,
middle school white, and middle school green. Kealing Middle School won
the middle school white division after avenging an preliminary round
loss to St. John’s.
Full Statistics are available here.
The next TQBA varsity event will be the fifth annual
HoHoHo at YES Prep SE on December 8th and the next middle school event will be the
HoHo at Village School on December 1st.



Reagan
High School won the 2nd annual San Antonio Express-News Alamo City
Challenge this past weekend at Trinity University in San Antonio. The
team of Carson Casey, Canzhi Ye, Abhinav Ranjan, Jacob Metz, and Ryan
Gabbos finished with a 10-0 record after besting John Jay Academy 400-75
in the final.
Full Statistics for the event are available here.
Twenty-four San Antonio teams competed in the event sponsored by the
San Antonio Express-News. The four semifinalists (Reagan, Jay, MacArthur, and TMI) all qualified for the
2013 NAQT High School National Championship Tournament in Atlanta in May. Reagan joined LASA as this season’s second automatic qualifier for the
14th annual Texas Quiz Bowl Championship in May.
TQBA plans to host its next San Antonio varsity event,
Bexar Bowl on February 2nd. The next TQBA regular season event will be the fifth annual
HoHoHo at YES Prep SE on December 8th.
Full playoff results:
Round of 16: (1) Reagan Green 480, (16) Luling 50;
(8) Reagan Black 285, (9) O’Connor 195;
(4) MacArthur 270, (13) Central Catholic 130;
(5) Champion A 280, (12) Reagan Silver 145;
(2) TMI 295, (15) Comfort 85;
(10) Boerne 205, (7) Johnson 195 (OT);
(3) Jay 325, (14) Judson 65;
(6) Clark A 270, (11) Clark B 240
Quarterfinals: (1) Reagan Green 315, (8) Reagan Black 225;
(4) MacArthur 295, (5) Champion A 215;
(2) TMI 215, (10) Boerne 205;
(3) Jay 295, (6) Clark A 195
Semifinals: (1) Reagan Green 460, (4) MacArthur 20
(3) Jay 380, (2) TMI 120
Final: (1) Reagan Green 400, (3) Jay 75