Published April 25, 2019
The Dodge City Community College Quiz Bowl team turned in an impressive performance at the final competition of the year.
The team finished in a tie for fourth place at the Kansas Collegiate Quiz Bowl State Championship in mid-April. The two-day competition was held at the Salina Area Technical College, with nine Kansas community colleges competing.
The DC3 team actually scored more points than the team they tied with, but a Byzantine scoring system worthy of a collegiate quiz bowl meant that some of those points were more valuable than others.
The team wasn’t only playing for bragging rights and trophies. The KCQB Championships feature cash prizes for the top three teams, with $1,000 on the line for the winners.
“It makes things a little more competitive and intense than other competitions,” said Dylan Faullin, math professor and one of the DC3 Quiz Bowl advisors along with science professor Sherry Curtis.
DC3 also brought home the Colin Matz Sportsmanship trophy for the third straight year. It’s supposed to be a traveling trophy but it seems to be at home at DC3.
“We were joking that maybe we should be mean on purpose so somebody else could win the trophy again,” Faullin said.
Faullin said that the tie for fourth is the highest finish a DC3 team has earned. With some questions worth 40 points, large point swings meant that the Conqs faced tough rounds where they were only 10 points short.
“A couple that we lost were very close,” Faullin said. “It came down to the last question. We got it right but lost by just a few points. I’m really proud that they got so close to cracking that top three.”
The college had two individuals place in the top five overall. Emma Wiebe finished in third and Luz Cobian finished in fifth. No other school had more than one player in the top 10.
“We don’t normally do this well, so we were just happy to be so close,” Wiebe said.
With a team full of sophomores, Faullin said he will miss the competitiveness and comradery of this year’s team.
“We had a pretty phenomenal team this year,” Faullin said. “They put in a lot of work all year so we’re just proud of how they finished.”
Wiebe said that while team members wanted to win and represent the college well, the social aspect to the team was probably the best part. Wiebe and others said they’ve made friendships with people they likely would have never met.
“The comradery was great this year,” Wiebe said. “We all get along really well.”
The team went 3-1 on the first day of the state championships, with Emma Wiebe going 3-for-3 on a Bible bonus. The team went 2-2 on day two to finish at 5-3.
Faullin said that their weekly practice sessions grow more than the students’ trivia abilities. Interesting, relevant discussions are regularly spurred from question research, broadening their intellectual spectrum.
“They laugh because they often get a question right because we’ve just had a long discussion about it,” Faullin said.
Faullin will be looking for several new team members for next year. New members will be part of a team that is gaining on the rest of the field.
“We got a lot of recognition all around,” Wiebe said. “We were feeling pretty good after the competition.”
Students interested in Quiz Bowl for next year can contact Faullin at dfaullin@dc3.edu, or Curtis at scurtis@dc3.edu.
By Scott Edger