After finishing in the top 50 at the National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT) national championships last weekend, the McLean quiz bowl team is hoping to carry their momentum into their next nationwide competition.

“I am proud of how we did [at the NAQT National Championship]. I think we worked well together,” senior captain Clara Marks said. “Everyone agreed that we had a more fun and fulfilling experience this year.”

With their success as a team at the NAQT national championships in mind, quiz bowl has high hopes for the Partnership for Academic Competition Excellence (PACE) tournament that will be held next weekend in Reston. Although close to home for the Highlanders, the event will host teams from across the country.

“It’s like when we went to Atlanta for the [NAQT] tournament and there were local Atlanta teams there,” teacher sponsor Jeffrey Brocketti said. “This time we’re lucky enough to be one of the local teams.”

The PACE tournament is a new event for the Highlanders. Since it was held in Chicago in previous years and the team traditionally participates in the larger NAQT championship in Atlanta the week before, it would be unrealistic to dream of competing in both long distance travel tournaments.

“It’s just not feasible to do two travel trips,” Brocketti said. “Atlanta is always the one we prefer to do.”

However, with the PACE competition being held so close to home, McLean quiz bowl will finally have their opportunity to compete in the tournament.

“We’ve qualified two teams for it based on our performance in previous tournaments,” Brocketti said. “Since we don’t have to pay for transportation or a hotel or anything, it’s like ‘why not?’”