Carmel (IN)
| Carmel High School
| |
| Club President | Akash Bhowmik |
| Coaches | Head Coach: James Hambley Assistant Coach: Shawn Curtis |
| State Championships | 1 |
| National Championships | 0 |
| National Appearances | 3 |
| Program Status | Active |
| School Size | 5,286 students (2018-19) |
| Social Media | @carmelquizbowl |
Carmel High School is a large public high school located in Carmel, Indiana. Its quiz bowl team, which first became seriously active in 2018, has quickly become one of the best in the country.
History
Carmel's Quizbowl team was originally named the Academic Competition Team (A.C.T.). The A.C.T. played in the Westfield Insurance Brain Game, and notably came runner-up in 2012. One year after the Brain Game's cancelation in 2017, the head coach of Carmel's A.C.T. left, causing the A.C.T. to become the Quizbowl team with the introduction of coaches James Hambley and Shawn Curtis and through actions by club president Justin Yu and seniors Joey Heerens and Andrew Sleugh to reform the Quizbowl club entering the 2018-19 season.
Results
2018-19 Season
- A Team
Akash Bhowmik, Justin Yu, Joey Heerens, Anthony Ou, Gary Zhang
- B Team
Raphael Li, Jeffery Tan, Kyle Zheng, James Zhang, Audrey Satchivi, Andrew Sleugh, Austin Guo
- Season Summary
The Greyhounds kicked off the season at Northmont High School in Clayton, Ohio by placing 11th at the Thirteenth Annual Rowdy Raider Tournament. Following a decent placement for a first-year Quizbowl club, the Greyhounds went to the New Trier Varsity Tournament at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, where Carmel's A Team became infamous among Quizbowl rankings analysts for participating on the Sun God set and requiring manual adjustment of Carmel's GrogerScore[1]. Following a long drought of no tournaments, Carmel competed at the 2019 NAQT State Quiz Bowl Championship, where Carmel's A Team finished runner-up, qualifying for nationals, and the B Team made a surprising finish at 4th. To wrap up the season, Carmel sent 8 players to compete as the A Team to the 2019 HSNCT, where the Greyhounds finished 155th and didn't make playoffs.
| Tournament | Date | A Team Place | B Team Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thirteenth Annual Rowdy Raider Tournament | 12/1 | 11th | |
| New Trier Varsity Tournament | 12/15 | 10th | 43rd |
| 2019 NAQT Indiana State Championship | 3/9 | 2nd | 4th |
| 2019 HSNCT | 5/24-5/26 | 155th |
2019-20 Season
- A Team
Akash Bhowmik, Archit Kalra, Austin Guo, James Zhang, Colin Zou
- B Team
Nolan Jones, Neal Joshi, Shrithan Sandadi, Harry Zheng, Kevin Wang, Krish Jayarapu, Jordan Seigel
- Free Agency
CHS underwent a major rebuilding process with the loss of many of its senior veterans. Among the new recruits were freshmen Archit Kalra, Harry Zheng, and Jordan Seigel, sophomores Shrithan Sandadi, Kevin Wang, Krish Jayarapu, and Nolan Jones, and junior Neal Joshi.
- Season Summary
The Greyhounds started off the season qualifying for HSNCT at the Class Act High School Invitational in Louisville, Kentucky, with the A Team placing 4th overall. Following Class Act, the Hounds went to Northmont High School in Clayton, Ohio to compete in the Rowdy Raider Invitational, where A Team would finish 13th place. The Hounds would follow up by travelling to Clermont Northeastern High School in Batavia, Ohio to compete in the Southwestern by Northeastern Tournament, where A Team finished first against Little Miami C in the finals, the team that prevented B Team's HSNCT qualification by defeating them in the quarterfinals. After a huge victory for A Team and a narrow defeat for B Team, the A Team went to Tri Junior-Senior High School in Straughn, Indiana for the IASP Indiana State Regionals, qualifying for the IASP Indiana State Quiz Bowl Championship with a decisive first-place finish. Following the major win at Regionals, the Hounds traveled to William Mason High School in Mason, Ohio to compete in the Mason Mashup Invitational, where A Team grabbed the first-place finish and B Team would finish 3rd. At the IASP Indiana State Quiz Bowl Championship, the A Team would finish 3rd overall, marking an end to the 2019-20 season for the Greyhounds as the 2020 HSNCT would be canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Tournament | Date | A Team | B Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class Act High School Invitational | 11/23 | 4th | 15th |
| Fourteenth Annual Rowdy Raider Invitational | 12/7 | 13th | 26th |
| Southwestern by Northeastern Tournament | 12/14 | 1st | 5th |
| IASP Indiana State Regionals Straughn | 1/25 | 1st | |
| Mason Mashup Invitational | 2/29 | 1st | 3rd |
| IASP Indiana State Quiz Bowl Championship | 3/7 | 3rd |
2020-21 Season
- A Team
Akash Bhowmik, Archit Kalra, Austin Guo, James Zhang, Colin Zou
- B Team
Nolan Jones, Neal Joshi, Harry Zheng, Kevin Wang, Jordan Seigel
- C Team
Shravan Chengalva, Lucca Mo, Raymond Pan, Matthew Rao, Eric Yang
- D Team
Canaan He, Jack Liu
- E Team
Shrithan Sandadi
- Free Agency
Before the 2020 free agency, CHS announced the creation of three new teams: the C Team, the D Team, and the E Team. The C Team signed freshman Shravan Chengalva, sophomores Lucca Mo, Eric Yang, and Matthew Rao, and junior Raymond Pan. The B Team attempted to trade Jordan Seigel and a 2025 first-round pick to the C Team in return for Raymond Pan, but the trade was nullified by NAQT for "Quizbowl reasons." Archit Kalra signed a 3-year, $90 million extension with the A Team, becoming the highest paid player in Quizbowl history. Nolan Jones, affected by the tragic loss of Nolan James, decided to take his talents to South Beach and join the B Team in his ESPN-exclusive documentary "The Quizision", joining forces with Neal Joshi and Harry Zheng to form a Big Three. However, the B Team would lose their first option player in Shrithan Sandadi to the E Team, with Sandadi signing a 2-year, $30 million contract with the expansion franchise. The last expansion franchise, the D Team, signed Jack Liu on a $2, 2-year contract and Canaan He on a $5, 3-year contract, and are expected to become the first team in Quizbowl history to lose every match this coming 2020-21 season.
- Season Summary
The Hounds spent the first half of the season playing online tournaments in the Great Lakes area near Indiana, with a notable win at Class Act and coming runner-up to Russell at Purdue Buzzathon. In the start of 2021, the B Team shocked the Carmel program by winning Country Roads Invitational in Pennsylvania, with A Team placing third and both teams qualifying for the 2021 HSNCT. Soon after, Carmel came runner-up at DART Mainsite under the team pseudonym "Imperial College of Engineering" as a nod to the famous film 3 Idiots. After a dominant performance at Indiana state regionals, the Hounds fell in two close games to St. Joseph in the Indiana State finals to come runner-up for the second time in Carmel's history. The Hounds rebounded heavily come nationals season, with the A Team placing 8th and the B Team placing 31st at the 2021 HSNCT. The Hounds would officially end the 2020-21 Season placing 5th at the 2021 ONCT. Carmel players Akash Bhowmik, Archit Kalra, and Shrithan Sandadi represented Indiana at the 2021 NASAT, finishing 22nd overall in Indiana's first showing at NASAT in seven years.
| # | Denotes team pseudonym |
| Tournament | Date | A Team | B Team | C Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Kentucky Fall Championship | 10/10 | 4th | 7th | |
| Class Act High School Invitational | 12/5 | 1st | 5th | |
| Purdue Boilermaker Buzzathon V | 12/19 | 2nd | 6th | 19th |
| Country Roads Invitational | 1/9 | 3rd | 1st | 13th |
| Detroit Academic Regular Tournament | 1/16 | 2nd# | ||
| IASP Indiana State Regionals Indiana Academy | 1/23 | 1st | ||
| SATURNALIA @ UIUC | 2/6 | 5th | 11th | |
| BHSAT XXX | 2/27 | 4th | 9th | |
| IASP Indiana State Quiz Bowl Championship | 3/6 | 2nd | ||
| Gopher Spring Tournament | 3/13 | 3rd | 5th | 13th |
| TAILS EST Tournament | 4/3 | 4th | ||
| ACRONYM 14 Online Championship | 5/8 | 30th | 40th | |
| AQBL May: Saturday | 5/8 | 1st | ||
| 2021 HSNCT | 5/29-5/30 | 8th | 31st | |
| TRASH @ ONCT | 6/25 | 1st | 7th | |
| 2021 ONCT | 6/26-6/27 | 5th |
2021-22 Season
- A Team
Akash Bhowmik, Austin Guo, Nolan Jones, Archit Kalra, Raymond Pan, Shrithan Sandadi
- B Team
Anna Liao, Anthony Pho, Jordan Seigel, Harry Zheng, Colin Zou
- C Team
Shravan Chengalva, Brian Pho, Matthew Rao, Lily Shukla, Chris Xu, Eric Yang
- D Team
Tanay Acharya, Noah Kahn, Safin Khatri, Kevin Hu
- F Team
Canaan He, Labeeb Hossain, Jack Liu
- Season Summary
The 2021-2022 season marked the senior season for most of Carmel's A Team, making it a make-or-break year for many unfinished accomplishments and accolades, namely winning a state title. In the first half of the season, the Hounds notably clinched first at Reinstein Open and won Purdue Boilermaker Buzzathon under the pseudonym "Lemrac". Following these big victories, the Hounds went undefeated at Indiana State Regionals and the IASP Indiana State Quiz Bowl Championship, becoming state champions for the first time in the program's short history. At the 2022 HSNCT in Atlanta, Georgia, the Hounds finished the preliminary rounds with the "1" card, notably defeating eventual tournament runner-up Hunter in a 3-1 placement match after their team arrived, eventual tournament champions DCC, and the final undefeated team of the tournament, 9-0 Arcadia, in the final round of prelims. Following an amazing first day of play, the Hounds ended 15th after a controversial loss to DCC and an upset by Livingston in the losers' bracket.
| * | Denotes JV result |
| # | Denotes team pseudonym |
| Tournament | Date | A Team | B Team | C Team | D Team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hicksville Invitational | 11/20 | 2nd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd* |
| Purdue Boilermaker Buzzathon VI | 12/11 | 1st# | 2nd# | ||
| Reinstein Open | 12/18 | 1st | 12th | 9th* | 31st* |
| Nationwide Novice Tournament | 1/22 | 10th | 8th* | ||
| IASP Indiana State Regionals Online | 1/22 | 1st | |||
| JP Stevens Bird Hole Tournament | 2/12 | 1st | 4th | 12th | |
| IASP Indiana State Quiz Bowl Championship | 3/5 | 1st | |||
| DART II Nationwide | 4/16 | 2nd | 8th | 15th | 23rd |
| Boilermaker Spring Tournament | 4/30 | 2nd | 3rd | ||
| 2022 HSNCT | 5/28-5/29 | 15th | 173rd | 201st |