Los Alamitos
| Los Alamitos High School | |
| Location: Los Alamitos, CA | |
|---|---|
| Coaches | Matt Harmon |
| State Championships | 2001, 2002 |
| National Championships | None |
| National Appearances | HSNCT: 1999, 2001, 2002 |
| Program Status | Active |
| School Size | 3125 |
| NAQT Page | link |
Los Alamitos has had a program since the mid-1990s, despite never having had a regular coach.
History
At some point in the 1990s, Los Alamitos earned the possibly self-proclaimed title of Bad Boys of California Quizbowl (since appropriated by Santa Monica) for their tournament antics that supposedly included urinating in places other than the restroom and pushing a computer out a second-floor window.
In 1999 Los Alamitos attended the first-ever HSNCT, where behind Thomas Zamora's 62.5 ppg they finished 23 ppg out of the playoffs. The team then proceeded to earn the dead last seed in the consolation playoffs and finished seventh out of eight teams. NAQT lists 13 players as having appeared for Los Alamitos in that tournament.
In 2001, behind the duo of Charles Meigs and Brendan Shapiro, Los Alamitos captured the NAQT California State Championship and finished 14th at NAQT HSNCT.
The 2002 team was the best in school history and one of the best in California history. Los Alamitos nearly ran the table in California, losing only to Torrey Pines B on some ridiculously bad packet and Capistrano Valley at the state championship, and won a three-team finals match for the NAQT California State Championship. In addition, a team of Charles and Brendan apparently "burninated everyone" at a tournament at Yale. At the HSNCT Los Alamitos stormed into the playoffs as the second seed. After a ridiculously competitive round-robin in which no team lost fewer than twice, Los Alamitos finished in a three-way tie for 5th with a 3-4 playoff record.
Since 2002, Los Alamitos has never been a player on the national stage and has rarely risen above the bottom tier of programs in the area. From the 2014-15 season Los Alamitos quizbowl has revived and now ranks in the middle of the field at tournaments such as the NAQT Southern California State Championship.