Following his big brother’s footsteps Nicholas tried out for the Arlington High School Hi-Q team. Even though he is only a Freshman he managed to land a spot on the team. Last year, when his older brother was in his last year of high school the AHS Hi-Q team won the regional championship in an intense final. Hi-Q is a question and answer format quiz contest, with categories ranging from Math, Biology, Chemistry,and Geography, to Literature, Shakespeare, Current Events, and American History.
Since Chris is home on Spring Break, he was able to watch his brother’s team advance from the semi-finals to the finals.
The semis were held at Everett Community College on a rainy Saturday morning and was a very tight match:
This match featured Edmonds-Woodway high school, Arlington, and the dreaded Kamiak, who apparently put up a very good team each year and provide Arlington with plenty of tough competition. The match was very close throughout, with Kamiak pulling away with an early lead and maintaining it up until the mid-match break where it was 14-18-14. You can see Nick on the right, just to the right of the boy in the red sweater. Nick’s side took the table at the half-time and immediately started to pull even…
Then away… strongly…
The above photo was taken with 7 seconds to go in the final question, and you can see the Kamiak stumbled from their lead and Arlington really poured it on. This win in the semifinals allowed Arlington to progress to the finals. These took place at Stanwood High School, and pitted Arlington against two strong teams, Stanwood High School and Marysville-Pilchuck High School. Stanwood were the Division II champions & achieved the highest overall score with 136 points, earning a direct seed in the finals. Marysville-Pilchuck were the Division III co-champions (I think with Kamiak) and won their semi-final match. Arlington were the underdogs in this match having only landed in 6th place overall, but winning their semi-final. Christopher, as well as his good friend and teammate from last year Rob Peiffle, and I were able to attend the match and it was pretty thrilling.
(Apologies for my crappy cell-cam photos!)
It was held in a large auditorium at Stanwood High School, filled with a few parents & family, and a vast sea of Stanwood High students, there to cheer for the “home team”.
Unfortunately for the crowd, Stanwood managed to only answer two questions correctly in the first half, with Marysville and Arlington pulling away early and leaving them in the dust. Just after the half Arlington managed to catch Marysville and tie it at 21.
Stanwood seemed to wake up (most of the crowd left at the half, perhaps lowering the pressure on the home team?) and pulled to within a few points, but then Marysville hit their stride and just went off seemingly beyond reach.
Surprisingly, Arlington rallied and came within one correct question of Marysville but just could not catch them in the end. The final was Stanwood 24, Marysville-Pilchuck 34, and Arlington 30.
Close but no 1st Prize for Arlington this year.
We’re very proud of Nick though. He’s got three more chances to win it all before Graduation. 😉
another smart Goolsbee coming along…
well done to all….
Jerome
Way to go, Nick! ‘Tis been fun seeing you grow up, and knowing your parents as I do (tangentially, I know, but some things one can infer easily!), I’ve no doubt you’ll be a force of nature!
Congratulations!