Quiz Bowl Champions for the third straight year!

GROSSE POINTE NORTH HIGH SCHOOL, DETROIT COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
AND KALAMAZOO CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL WIN QUIZ BOWL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Grosse Pointe North, Detroit Country Day and Kalamazoo Christian high schools emerged from the 2010 State Championship High School Quiz Bowl tournament with state titles in their respective classes.

More than 700 Michigan high school students from across the state gathered at Michigan State University on April 23-24 to participate in the competition former Senate Majority Leader Dan L. DeGrow began as an annual event 23 years ago.

The event, sponsored by the Michigan State University Honors College and Meijer, Inc., was held at MSU for the tenth time this year.

State Quiz Bowl consists of three simultaneously run tournaments: Class A, Class B and Class C/D. The competition is double-elimination and is open to quiz teams who have won either a league championship or major tournament.

The Class A competition, won by Grosse Pointe North High School, was determined in two final matches. Members of the Grosse Pointe North team, coached by Mike Rennell, included Matthew Vengalil, Stephen Morrison, Andrew Remenar, Roxanne Ilagan, Mark Linington, Margaret Grumerezt, Michael Kain, Tyler Gibson, Maggie Shenouda, Megan McCuen, Kelly Ilagan, Brett Slajus, Ryan Waggoner, and Katie Murray. Second place went to Detroit Catholic Central High School, coached by Jason Jones, Ben Herman and Chris Gismondi. The team included Michael Yurko, Matthew Nicholas, George McIntyre, Mitchell Belanger, Ryan Dillon, David Ciccarelli, Matthew Messana, Robert Cernak, Connor Teevans, Christopher Wolfe, Nicholas Baumgartner, Kevin Wegienka, Brett Kusch, Bobby Dorigo-Jones, and Jimmy Haubert. The team from University of Detroit Jesuit High School placed third.

The Class B competition, won by Detroit Country Day School, was determined in two final matches. The Detroit Country Day team, coached by Eugene Jurkiewicz and Brad McNellen, consisted of Neil Gurram, Kevin Tan, Michael DiMattia, Aamod Dekhne, Sai Namaduri, Hannah Cheriyan, Chris Schulte, John Bernabei, L.A. Parshall and Sidharth Chand. Second place went to the team from St. Joseph High School which included Olivia Postelli, Greg St. Amand, Paul Villa, Peter Xie, Brian Carrick, Kevin Wu, Stephen Brennan, Erin Hart, Christine Server, Sean Carpenter and was coached by Gary Etter. DeWitt High School placed third in this bracket.

The Class C/D competition, won by Kalamazoo Christian, was determined in two final matches. The Kalamazoo Christian team, coached by Al Nieboer, Jim Potter and Scott VanDyke was comprised of members Henry Holland, James Karsten, Mike Timmerman, Josh Withee, Thomas Webb, John Holland, Vincent McLain, Karl Meinema, Josh Moote, Eric Webb, Andrew Smith, Eric Selles and John Simchera. Second place went to the Utica Academy for International Studies, coached by William Dobbie, with team members Lucas Weingartz, Troy Zuccaro, Nicole Fiorvento, Emily Graves, Matt Yasso, Rachel Braum, and Aaron Rea. The team from Grand Rapids City High School took third.

For the seventh time the state tournament committee selected an All State Quiz Bowl Honorary Team who were nominated by moderators and judges of the competition as the most exceptional players of the tournament. In Class A, honors went to Michael Yurko of Detroit Catholic Central High School, Matthew Vengalil of Grosse Pointe North High School, Ian Nilsen and Mayank Patke of Okemos High School, Hema Karunakaram of Saline High School, and Benjamine Peck of University of Detroit Jesuit High School.

Class B All State honors were awarded to Neil Gurram of Detroit Country Day School, Jake Quimby of DeWitt High School, Chris Chan of Powers Catholic High School, and Olivia Postelli and Greg St. Amand of St. Joseph High School.

Class C/D All State honors were awarded to Emily Rippa of Grand Rapids City High School, Alexander Payne of Jonesville High School, Mike Timmerman of Kalamazoo Christian High School, Lucas Weingartz of the Utica Academy for International Studies, and Cameron Walker of White Cloud High School.

All three championship teams have the chance to compete in other nationwide quiz bowl competitions.