ROSEMONT, ILL. — Clinton-Massie High School joined 125 of the top quiz bowl teams from small public high schools at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare the weekend of April 29 for the 2017 Small School National Championship Tournament to determine who was the best.

Quiz bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students. Quiz bowl teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology, geography, social science, current events, sports, and popular culture.

The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be an expert in all subject areas. Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.

The Clinton-Massie team, in the Traditional Public division, was captained by Alex Hudson, who was joined by Noah Adams, Cole Isaacs, Lukas Whittamore, and Evan Wright. The team was coached by Gil Farr.

Clinton-Massie was one of 23 Ohio teams competing at the national championship, and the team finished the preliminary rounds with a 3-6 record.

There were some tense moments. Clinton-Massie suffered a heartbreakingly narrow loss to Lake City from Colorado, 175-150 during round 10, and defeated West Salem from Wisconsin by the narrow margin of 165-160 during round 11.

Clinton-Massie’s shot at the playoffs ended when they lost to Lake City in round 10.

The Traditional Public division champion was the A team from Glasgow High School, Glasgow, Kentucky. The Charter and Private division champion was St. Mark’s School of Texas in Dallas, Texas.

The 2017 SSNCT (Traditional Public) field featured 96 teams from 20 states.