Savannah (Missouri High School)

Savannah
Location: Savannah, MO
Coaches	Melissa Ross
State Championships	2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2011 MSHSAA Class 3, 2011 NAQT
National Championships	1988 ASCN
Program Status	Unknown
School Size	Unknown
NAQT Page	link

Savannah High School is a public school in Savannah, Missouri, just north of St. Joseph. Savannah is currently one of the largest schools in MSHSAA Class 3 and is occasionally bumped up to Class 4, most recently in 2009 and 2010.

Savannah has been one of the best teams in Missouri year after year, winning five MSHSAA state titles as well as the 1988 TOC. Since 2000, the school has placed in the top 3 in its class at MSHSAA state every year except in 2009 and 2010, when the school was (along with Mexico) the smallest in Class 4. Savannah most recently won the 2011 NAQT Missouri Qualifier and the 2011 MSHSAA State Championship in Class 3.

Under coach Melissa Ross, Savannah primarily attends Missouri Quizbowl Alliance certified events, traveling across the state several times every season, and has attended HSNCT every year since 2007. The team went 6-4 in the preliminary rounds in 2008 and 2011 but both times was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.

Former coach Bill Luce led the team to many of its strong finishes before his coaching retirement in 2007, and remains a significant influence on quizbowl in Missouri.

Tournament Hosting

Savannah usually hosts a Varsity and a Junior Varsity tournament each year, each in a four-quarter format with shorter questions usually provided by Show Me Questions, an organization founded by Luce. During Luce's tenure as coach and the height of ASCN, the tournament frequently drew teams from several surrounding states. Today, the tournament typically only draws teams from the immediate area and a few teams from Kansas City.

NAQT Invitational

In March 2011, in an attempt to introduce good quizbowl to the northwestern part of the state, Savannah hosted a second varsity tournament on IS-98, which was the first Savannah tournament to be MOQBA certified. Savannah intended to use a more field-appropriate A set, but none were available due to NAQT using most of the A-sets to construct the district and state sets [1]. As a result, reception was not particularly positive, and it is unclear whether or not Savannah will host another NAQT tournament in the future.

Year	Set	# of Teams	Champion	Second	Third	Fourth
2011	IS-98	18	Park Hill South	Truman	North Kansas City	Cameron

Succession of minor titles

ASCN TOC Champion
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
Carolina	1988	Georgetown Day

MSHSAA Class 3 State Champion
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
Salem Westminster Christian Priory	2002, 2003, 2004 2006 2011	Westminster Christian John Burroughs (defending champions)

NAQT Missouri Champion
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
Helias	2011	(defending champions)