This city was the capital of a namesake Berber kingdom founded by Zawi ibn Ziri. A coup in this city featured the participation of Maryam, the wife of Yusuf I. This city was the last captured during the Reconquista. For 10 points, name this capital of a Muslim kingdom in southern Spain. The correct answer: Granada.

On Jan 28 two teams of four students represented MHS’ Quiz Bowl at the History Bowl tournament and spent their Saturday answering historical questions. Team Green tied for fourth place overall after finishing 2-3 in a round robin. Team Blue with a 4-1 record beat Webster Groves in the semi-finals but lost the final round to MICDS, crowning them second place overall.

Team captain, Cooper Hoffmeyer, senior, said the History Bowl is a national competition that has regional tournaments once a year. It’s an academic trivia competition formatted similarly to the Quiz Bowl; however, the questions are solely history based whereas in the Quiz Bowl there are questions related to literature, religion, science and math.

A moderator sitting in the center of the room reads aloud historical clues and two teams of four or less sit on opposite sides of the room. The team that buzzes first responds to the prompt.

“The clues are in a pyramid style format. In the beginning of the question it’s very hard to get the answer right because they’re very specific things about that answer,” Hoffmeyer said. “But as that moderator reads on, the questions get easier and easier until finally someone can buzz in and get that answer.”

Devin Haas, junior, is a member of Quiz Bowl and competed at the tournament as a part of Team Blue. His team lost to MICDS in the final round by 10 points. At halftime, Team Blue was slightly ahead but by the end of the round MICDS was able to pull ahead Haas said. MICDS’ team included two students; one of whom they were familiar with.

“There is a kid that goes to MICDS, he’s incredibly smart and at the last Quiz Bowl tournament which was in December we went up against him and similarly lost by barely a few points,” Haas said “We ended up coming in third at that tournament as a result.”

History Bowl sponsor and history teacher, Scott Szevery went to the tournament too. He’s been participating in the event since Sam Sherwood, senior, started the team as a freshman. Szevery stays involved because he says seeing how knowledgeable and competitive the kids are is awe-inspiring.

“It’s all over historical knowledge, and its like where did they get this information? It’s not just stuff you learn in school,” Szevery said. “These are kids who read a lot and have explored history a lot on their own to develop the knowledge base that they have.”

Even though MHS didn’t win, Szevery said he was very impressed with the team’s results. He said that the final round might as well have been a tie for Team Blue because it was so close.

“I mean if they would have asked five more questions you could have had a different result but that’s the way these things go,” Szevery said. “I was excited that they competed so well, handled the loss with grace and were still very proud of what they accomplished.”