Quizmeet at Hinkletown: Quizmatches vs. Maple Grove 1 & Hinkletown 3

 AMEC Bible Quizzing stretched the Stony Brook quiz team's patience as they waited for the standings. After 2 quizmatches scoring 155 points, Stony Brook knew they would finish high on the standings, but they did not know how high. Their quiz coach, Graham Holcomb, estimated 3rd place in their league and 5th overall, but he based that estimate off of previous years. Even during their Thursday practice, the quiz team did not know their standings. Then, once everybody got home from quiz practice, the standings finally appeared on the quizzing website, and Stony Brook found out...THEY WERE 1ST PLACE IN THEIR LEAGUE AND 3RD PLACE OVERALL! Furthermore, the team had 3 quizzers in the top 60: Olivia, Kaylee and Kate. While the team rejoiced over their high standing, they knew that it all meant nothing if they did not put the same amount of work into learning Joshua as the work they put into Job. So that's exactly what they did. They studied Joshua just as hard as Joshua.

The Stony Brook quiz team met at the Keenys for practice that Sunday afternoon...well, 3 of the quizzers. The Metzlers had choir practice, so Kaylee, Lauren and Olivia had quizzing practice. The quiz coach Graham designed quiz practice like a 3-way quizmatch, where each quizzer was their own quiz team. For the first practice match, Olivia dominated, answering 12 of 15 questions correctly! For the rest of the practices, Kaylee and Lauren would catch up. After 4 practice matches, the quiz team had a dinner of beef barbecue, with sides of potato wedges, macaroni salad and grapes. Graham left early to meet up with the Metzlers, so he could ride up with Caleb and Kate to give them questions. The whole team reconviened at Hinkletown Mennonite Church for the quizmeet.

After the worship, the Stony Brook quiz team had to wait 3 rounds before their quiz match. Therefore, Stony Brook did what they did last week and watched their first opponents Maple Grove 1 and Hinkletown 3. The poor Metzler quiz team must have thought that Stony Brook was stalking them because 2 of those 3 quizmatches involved the Metzler quiz team! Watching both future opponents, Stony Brook noticed that both of their future opponents errored a lot, to the point of losing points. This gave the quiz team the hope that they could pick up a lot of bonuses from both teams.

Stony Brook vs. Maple Grove 1

Around 7:30, the Stony Brook quiz team met in the Faithful Servant room for their quizmatch versus Maple Grove 1, with Mark Graybill as the quiz master. Maple Grove 1 began the quizmatch on a strong note. They buzzed in on the first three questions. Fortunately, they only got 1 of those buzz ins correct. Unfortunately, Stony Brook could only pick up 1 of those bonuses, thanks to Lauren. By this time, Olivia must have been frustrated that she could buzz in, as on question 4, she buzzed in and answered it correct! Olivia tried to follow up her correct buzz-in with another correct buzz-in, but she ended up with an error, an error which Maple Grove 1's Dana would answer the bonus correctly. Fortunately for Olivia, Dana would commit her own error, giving Olivia a bonus, which she answered correctly. Up to this point, the match was still close. In fact, Stony Brook had a 10 point lead, 30-20. At this point, however, Maple Grove 1 would take off and take control. Of the 9 remaining questions, Maple Grove 1 buzzed in on 8 questions. Of those 8 questions, Maple Grove 1 would answer 7 of them correctly. That 1 question that Stony Brook buzzed in on would result in an error (bonus picked up by Maple Grove 1), and the 1 bonus Stony Brook got was not answered correctly. With all their correct buzz ins, Maple Grove 1 would earn 2 quiz outs and team bonus. Stony Brook would lose to Maple Grove 1 30-130. Of those 30 points, Olivia scored 20 (1 correct buzz in + 1 correct bonus) and Lauren would score 10 points (1 correct bonus).

The Stony Brook quiz team had to wait for the last round for their second quizmatch of the night. Stony Brook gathered in the sanctuary (their first real life quizmatch in the sanctuary!) versus home team Hinkletown 3, with Sam Beiler as the quizmaster. Hinkletown 3 quizzer Elisabeth started out strong with 2 buzz ins on the first 2 questions. Only the 1st question Elisabeth answerd correctly. The 2nd question was incorrect, and Kate would answer the bonus correctly. Again, Olivia must have not appreciated her inability buzzing in, for she buzzed in on question 3 and answered correctly. Hinkletown 3 would own the next 3 questions, and they would buzz in and answer them all correct. It looked like Hinkletown 3 was taking off, as they took the lead 40-20. Once again, Olivia (possibly out of frustration) buzzed in again and answered it correctly again. She was one away from quizzing out. Speaking of 1 away from quizzing out, Elisabeth of Hinkletown 3 was at the same point. In the attempt to quiz out, she ended up erroring out. All 3 of those errors went over to Kate, and Kate answered all 3 correctly. Yes, Kate quizzed out on Elisabeth's error out. On the very next question, Olivia followed up with her own quiz out, all on correct buzz ins. Up to this point, Kate and Olivia owned the Stony Brook side of the quiz match. Now with Kate and Olivia out, Kaylee picked up a bonus, and Lauren got a buzz in right. After 15 questions, Stony Brook WON 90-65.

Stony Brook vs. Hinkletown 3

While the Stony Brook quiz team did not have any 155-point matches this quiz meet, Stony Brook should not frown at their performance this week. Last year, the quiz team only had 1 quizmatch in which they scored over 80 points. If this quizmeet's Hinkletown 3 quizmatch happened last year, it would have been their 2nd highest score. Combining this year and last year's quizmatches, this is the Stony Brook quiz team's fourth highest scoring match. A quarter-way through the season, Stony Brook has a record 3-2, scored a total of 470 points, averaging 94 points per match. Based off last year's standings, a 94-point average should keep the quiz team in the top 5 of the league, but again, this prediction is based off of last year's standings. More impressive though, Lauren broke her personal score record, Kaylee broke her personal score record, and Kate is a mere 3 right answers from tying her personal score record. And this is all within the first 2 weeks of the quizzing season! Just wait and see what else the Lord has planned for this quiz team! :)