On Saturday, Vanderbilt Quiz Bowl competed against the University of Minnesota and won the Division II Intercollegiate Championship Tournament.

Quiz Bowl is a trivia competition not unlike a team version of “Jeopardy!” albeit with much longer questions scoping just about any topic, including art history, molecular biology and ancient philosophy. Division II teams consist exclusively of undergraduates who have never participated in a national tournament. Members have to be prepared for any and every possible question thrown their way, so preparation can be extensive. 

“We practice with practice and reused problem sets, but most of the knowledge comes from outside learning,” tournament all-star sophomore Andrew Hanna said.  “We are all naturally curious individuals, so we do a lot of research into what interests us. I like to read a lot, which translates really well.” 

Hanna was the eighth-best individual scorer of the 128 students who participated in the tournament. Along with Hanna, junior Austin Wei, sophomores Shivam Mohite and Liam Thompson and first-years Aidan Fein and Gideon Kpurubu made up the team that won the national championship this past weekend. This tournament marked the end of the Quiz Bowl calendar for the team, which competes year-round in tournaments against teams from across the country, and now Canada and the United Kingdom, due to the improved accessibility of online tournaments with the help of Zoom.

Despite Vandy Quiz Bowl winning the national championship only two days ago, they already have their sights focused on the future. Hanna said he hopes that the team will be able to take on graduate students in Division I. As for next year, the team will hopefully be able to experience the satisfaction of winning in person.