Acton-Boxborough
| Acton Boxborough Regional High School | |
| |
|---|---|
| Location: Acton, MA | |
| Coaches | Susan Bohmiller (2011-present) |
| National Appearances | HSNCT: 2015, 2017, 2018
PACE: 2014 |
| Program Status | Unknown |
| School Size | Unknown |
| NAQT Page | link |
Acton-Boxborough Regional High School is a public high school in Acton, Massachusetts. The school's quizbowl team formed in 2012.
History
Acton-Boxborough attended their first quizbowl tournament, the 2012 MIT Fall, with no previous quizbowl experience. The team surprisingly finished 6-3 overall, and began actively studying and participating in quiz bowl events. The team consisted of juniors Victor Pavao, Tom Russell, Sarang Yeola, and freshman Spencer Thrope. That spring, they attended MIT's MITBAT VII, where they finished 7-5. The next year, Acton-Boxborough began by finishing 3rd overall at the 2013 MIT Fall, qualifying them for both NSC and HSNCT. This was their first tournament playing off a non-NAQT set. In the following months, membership steadily grew and they began fielding a B team of mostly sophomores. They would finish at or near the top at several Northeast circuit tournaments, but finished 67th overall at PACE.
The 2014-2015 year had an inconsistent start. Josh Xiong, a senior with no previous quizbowl experience, joined in the fall and propelled the team to a 3rd place finish at Lexington's Invitational and 4th at HSAPQ states. At HSNCT, they went 4-6 and placed 169th. The following year the team had inconsistent membership and performance; they did not attend nor qualify for any national tournament.
In 2016, a wave of new players, including Prat Hegde, Sky Li, and Caleb Trotz, led the A team in the 2017-2018 season. They finished in 2nd at 2017 MIT Fall, but had tough performances at HFT and Lexington's LIIMIT. However, due to consistent studying and practice, they had a great performance at 2018 HSNCT. Several players had stunning individual performances. A recording of the devastating loss to McLean can be heard https://s3.amazonaws.com/naqt-static/podcasts/2018-hsnct/17.mp3. They finished in 32nd with an 8-5 overall record, Acton-Boxborough's best performance at a national tournament.
Status
Basil Sousounis currently leads the A team in performance, consistently attending local tournaments and finishing at or near the top. The team will be attending the 2019 HSNCT.
Current Roster
Basil Sousounis (junior)
Nethra Prasanna (senior)
Vivek Aysola (sophomore)
Rama Nagireddy (sophomore)
Sam Qiu (sophomore)
Stephan Shishkov (sophomore)
Chris Sousounis (sophomore)
Sid Warrier (sophomore)
Maggie Fernald (freshman)
Ryan Fletcher (freshman)
Alex Wang (freshman)
Nathan Wolf (freshman)
Alumni
(*) indicates active quizbowl community member
Kevin Hu (2015-2016)
Eric Hua, Georgetown
Alex Kim (2013-2016)
Max Kim, Bentley
Anna Li (2017-2018), UMass Amherst
Jeff Gao (2012-2014), UNH
Prat Hegde, captain, Northeastern
Sky Li*, captain, Toronto
Kevin Liu (2013-2014), Case Western
Sam Maffa (2017-2018), Brown
Aidan Pavao (2014-2016), Boston College
Victor Pavao* (2012-2014), Villanova
Tom Russell (2012-2014), captain, Purdue
Sid Salunkhe (2014-2016), Georgia Tech
Spencer Thrope (2012-2016), captain, Virginia Tech
Caleb Trotz, captain, Brown
Victor Wang, Waterloo
Josh Xiong* (2014-2015), MIT
Ari Xuan (2018)
Sarang Yeola* (2012-2014), Maryland