St. Margaret's
| St. Margaret's Tartans | |
| |
|---|---|
| Location: San Juan Capistrano, CA | |
| Club Presidents | Nate Kang |
| Coaches | Simon Fellowes (de facto) |
| State Championships | 2019 (NHBB San Diego, JV Division), 2020 (NHBB Los Angeles, JV) |
| National Championships | none |
| National Appearances | Nat'l History Bowl: 2019, 19th place |
| Program Status | Active |
| School Size | 474 in Upper School (Grade 9-12) |
| NAQT Page | link |
The St. Margaret's quizbowl and history bowl teams (also sometimes listed as "St. Margaret's Episcopal") have represented the Tartans of St. Margaret's Episcopal School in the SoCal circuit since the beginning of the 2018–19 high school season. Both programs were established in 2018 by Nate Kang during his freshman year.
History
St. Margaret's went just 2–6 playing varsity in their debut tournament, Del Norte Edgehog II, in December 2018.
In February 2019, at the San Diego NHBB tournament, St. Margaret's took home its first trophy, winning the history bowl regional championship in the JV division. Going 6–0 in the competition, SMES defeated Arcadia by 70 in the final. Nate Kang played solo in the bowl at this tournament and also won the regional championship in the bee on the same day.
In April 2019, Kang soloed St. Margaret's junior varsity team to a 10–4 record at nats, good for a 19th place finish nationwide at the 2019 National History Bowl national championships in Arlington, VA.
In November 2019, Nate was joined for the first time by teammates (fellow sophomores Alex Fournier and Hunter Smith), as the Tartans went 4–6 at Triton Fall at UCSD. Also during the 2019–20 season, St. Margaret's won their 2nd-straight JV history bowl regional title at USC behind Kang and Fournier, going 7–0. Largely due to the cancellation of spring tourneys as a result of COVID-19, SMES only played at one QB tournament during the 2019–20 season. They were ranked 7th in SoCal going into the 2020–21 season in a piece by Westview's Nick Dai.
In 2021, St. Margaret's qualified for the 2022 editions of the HSNCT, SSNCT, and PACE NSC–– all firsts in program history.