Following the first round of invitational competition at Brebeuf Jesuit High School, the Academic Superbowl team assessed its strengths and weaknesses and intends to continue improving and preparing. The second round of invitational competition will take place March 20 at Ben Davis High School. Regional competition will take place on April 16.

According to club sponsor Matt Dillon, the first round of competition provided some insight into the subject squads’ capabilities. However, Dillon also noted that the Brebeuf Invitational yielded varied results for the respective subject squads.

“We had mixed results with our first competition on March 7; some good points, some bad,” Dillon said. While Dillon attributed the majority of the poor scores to a lack of preparation on behalf of the captains and the participants, he also noted that “these scores are not uncommon this early on.” However, Dillon recommended that participants be more prepared for the second round of competition at Ben Davis, which will take place on March 20.

According to Katie Doman, Academic Superbowl participant and sophomore, the Ben Davis Invitational will provide further insight into how prepared students are for the Regional competition, though it does not determine which teams qualify for further competition.

“Even though (the subject squads) didn’t score as well as was hoped, (the subject squads) still did pretty well. Since then, however, we’ve been preparing even more. Hopefully, it’ll show in the next round of competition. Even though all the competitions are important, (my team) is most worried about the big competition on April 16, which determines whether or not we get to compete at State,” Doman said.

Similarly, Dillon said that while he acknowledges the importance of the Ben Davis Invitational and the Brebeuf Invitational, he is most concerned about the Regional competition on April 16.

“It’s just the one and done. (The subject squads) qualify or they don’t. And if they really want to go to State, if that’s important to them, then they better buckle down and be better prepared than what they were last week,” Dillon said.

According to Doman, the Brebeuf Invitational serves primarily to allow the teams to evaluate each other in terms of knowledge and application. And, with just over a month remaining until the regional competition, Doman claims that she and her fellow team members are doing their best to continue improving and working toward a first place finish.

Doman added, “Truthfully, the invitational competitions are really just practices for the regional competition in April that qualifies us for the state competition in May. I hope for us to be very knowledgeable and prepared for the big competition.”

For more information about competition dates and destinations, visit:

http://www.iasp.org/index.php/student-programs/academic-competitions/srsuperbowl/

Caption: Academic Superbowl participants meet in head coach Matt Dillon’s room following the first round of competition at Brebeuf. According to Doman, the respective subject squads are like “one big, smart family” to her, despite “inter-squad rivalry to score the most points.”