L to R: Lucas Kunde, Tyler Kunde, Nizhonia Schmidt, and Tyson Tubbs
By Jenny Knutsen
Saturday, April 26th, the River Hawks quiz bowl season came to an end. The River Hawks were competing in the Small School National Championship Tournament in Rosemont, IL. In the public school division there were 88 teams, including the River Hawks, from around the country. Teams needed to qualify in another NAQT (National Academic Quiz Tournaments) tournament(s) prior in order to be invited. In the open division (private and charter) 65 teams competed.
The River Hawks faced a very tough pool this year: Evergreen (Metamora, OH), Bridge Creek (Blanchard, OK), White Pigeon (White Pigeon, MI), Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains, IL), Hastings (Hudson, NY), Bayless (St. Louis, MO), Schuyler (Queen City, MO), Swanton (Swanton, OH), Lake County (Leadville, CO), and Raceland-Worthington (Raceland, KY). Hastings was the overall champion in 2024, and they took 2nd place this year, falling to West Point, a team from Alabama. The River Hawks had 3 other teams in their pool finish in the top 25. This included: Pleasant Plains (8th), White Pigeon (13th), and Bayless (21st). The River Hawks lone win was to Bridge Creek for the day. Again, a very tough pool.
Lucas was our high scorer for the day answering 17 toss up questions, Tyler was right behind him with 15 and one power (a question that is answered within a certain amount of time, which is worth 15 points instead of 10), Tyson with 11, and Nizhonia with 5. Bonus questions were not tracked individually, only as a team. There were 520 individual players at the competition. Lucas’ finish placed him at 187th for the day. The River Hawks finished their season on the Groger’s Ranking List. This is a list of the top 400 quiz bowl teams in the country. Easton Valley is one of only four schools in the state of Iowa to make the list. Other Iowa schools making the list: Waukee Northwest (278), Western Dubuque (294), and Ames (396). The River Hawks are ranked at 360. Be sure to catch this group in action next school year. They are already talking about what they need to do to prepare. Go River Hawks!
