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. In the spring 2013, they attended MIT's MITBAT VII, where they finished 7-5. In the fall of 2013, Acton-Boxborough finished 3rd overall at the 2013 MIT Fall, qualifying them for both national tournaments for the first time ever. Membership steadily grew and they were consistently able to field 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.

A-B had a very inconsistent start to the year. They placed 8th at MIT fall. After going 4-1 in prelims, they would go on to get swept in playoffs.They then attended Yale fall where they place tenth out of 27 teams losing out on the top bracket due to a tiebreaker. After they would attend Northeastern where they placed 4th out of ten teams. At AMSA's central MA tournament they went undefeated in prelims. However in playoffs they went 3-4 to place fifth. They also attended Harvard fall where they went 3-2 in prelims but due to a tiebreaker they would not make the top bracket. They would finish 6-4 at Harvard. the last tournament of 2014 was LIMIT where A-B place 3rd, qualifying for nationals with a 9-3 record and a 4-0 record in prelims.A-B's next tournament was BHASAT where they went 2-1 in prelims and went 3-4 in playoffs to finish 12th overall. At HSAPQ states A-B would finish 4th overall. At NAQT states A-B would place 3rd overall losing a close tiebreaker game to AMSA for second place. A-B finished the year by attending HSNCT where they went 4-6 and placed 169th. However, Josh Xiong was named an all-star for the tournament.

A-B began the season at MIT Fall in October, attending with the partial A team playing split between Acton-Boxborough B and A. Sky Li led Acton-Boxborough B to a 2nd place overall finish and PACE NSC qual, putting up a stellar 100 ppg in prelims and finishing as top overall scorer. Caleb Trotz finished as top scorer on Acton-Boxborough A, leading them to a top-bracket, 6th place finish.

The next tournament that A-B attended was CMFT 4 at AMSA in Marlborough. A-B played with only one A team player, Caleb Trotz, who scored well, but the team placed an abysmal 10th overall, lacking most of its players.

A-B then sent 3 teams to Harvard Fall, played on HFT XII. This was the first tournament of the year with the full A team, but the A team suffered losses to both Phillips Academy B and Detroit Catholic Central A, finishing with a 3-2 preliminary record. However, PPG tiebreakers allowed A-B A to break into the top bracket. There, A-B lost to Hoover, Lexington A, and Hunter A, but won over St. Mark’s School and Phillips Academy A to finish 5-5. Sky Li led scoring (42 PPG/12 powers), with Prat Hegde (38.5 PPG/ 14 powers) and Caleb Trotz (25 PPG/5 powers) close behind. A-B C went undefeated in outrounds in the bottom brakcet, and A-B B lost only one game (to A-B C), with particular praise given to Victor Wang for picking up a scoring award and putting up 5 HFT powers.

At Phillips Academy Winter, A-B tried to qualify two teams to HSNCT by splitting its normal A team. However, due to last minute drops from the field, this did not turn out well, with A-B C losing to its own A team and Lexington A on the last tossup. The A team finished 7-3 in 4th place, and the C team destroyed the lower bracket, ending at 8-2. The B team finished 4-6. Caleb Trotz led scoring on A with 60.56 PPG, and Prat Hegde and Sky Li led scoring on C with 80.50 PPG and 63 PPG, respectively.

At LIIIMIT in January, the full A team played together on WHAQ II, with the absence of Eric Hua. The tournament did not go spectacularly, with 3 last-tossup losses (Twice to AMSA, and once to Plymouth). Prat Hegde and Sky Li led scoring, with 54.5 PPG/25 powers and 49 PPG /22 powers respectively. A-B B broke into the top bracket, but went 0-5. Anna Li led scoring on B with 32.5 PPG/5 powers.

A-B next attended BHSAT @ Yale with the full A team minus Prat Hegde. A-B went undefeated in prelims with a win over Ithaca, but fell to 0-6 in playoffs with losses against Hunter A, Green Farms, Lexington A, Phillips A, Hunter A, Darien A, and West Egg. Sky Li led scoring with 60 PPG on 16 powers.

The next tournament was OATH, which A-B attended with a 3-man team, again minus Prat Hegde. The team went 7-2 overall, placing third, with losses only to Belmont and Andover. Sky Li led scoring on 91.11 PPG/20 powers, but Caleb Trotz also notably put up 52.22 PPG/20 powers.

A week later, A-B sent 3 teams to FaCTs@MIT. The team split included the normal A team minus Prat Hegde, who played effectively solo as a C team. Both A-B A and A-B C broke into the top bracket, where A-B A went 11-1 overall and won the tournament. A-B C went 6-5 overall, placing 5th overall as a solo team. Sky Li scored 78.75 PPG off 14 powers as lead scorer on A, and Caleb Trotz added 11 powers. A-B B finished 4-7, but Anna Li put up 51.82 PPG on 6 powers, a strong performance. Prat Hegde from A-B C finished as top overall scorer with 105.45 PPG on 26 powers.

A-B then sent one team with no A team members to Boston Latin’s SPIT. Although the team finished with a lowly 1-8 record and 19th place, freshman Basil Sousounis led scoring with 26.67 PPG on 3 powers, marking a solid tournament for a rookie freshman. Anna Li also added 4 powers.

MA State Championships happened on April 7 on the college SCT DII set, and A-B played half an A team for the first half of the tournament. A-B A went 4-1 in prelims with a loss to Andover, and A-B B went 1-4, with Sky Li leading scoring on A. Prat Hegde joined the team after lunch, and A-B A went on a tear, beating Hanover B 205-200, Andover 420-205, Boston Latin 415-50, and Belmont 325-135. However, A-B A lost to Lexington A twice in the final, taking second place at MA States. Sky Li put up an impressive 53 PPG on 10 powers in playoffs (with 18 powers overall). Prat Hegde followed behind with 46 PPG in playoffs on 9 powers. A-B B went 3-2 in playoffs, finishing 9th. Anna Li had 44 PPG on 6 playoff powers.

The final regular season tournament was Belmont’s BAIT I, played on Prison Bowl. A-B fielded a 2-2-2 team composition, with 3 teams of two people each. A-B A, consisting of Sky Li and Caleb Trotz, went 11-0 and won the tournament outright. A-B B, consisting of Prat Hegde and Eric Hua, went 6-4 overall. A-B C finished 8-2 in the lower bracket. Sky Li led all scorers with 95.45 PPG on 20 powers, and Prat Hegde had 67 PPG on 15 powers. Eric Hua put up 37.5 PPG on 6 powers, and Caleb Trotz put up 38.18 PPG on 9 powers. Anna Li ended at 4th overall scorer with 63 PPG on 4 powers.

Acton-Boxborough attended the 2018 High School National Championship at the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta, Georgia, as the final tournament of the season. The team consisted of Sky Li, Prat Hegde, Caleb Trotz, and Eric Hua, with Victor Wang and Max Kim as subs. The first day opened with a 6-power, 565-70 win over Fort Osage thanks to Caleb Trotz's 66.7 PP20 performance, followed by a close, last-tossup 330-275 loss to Rockford Auburn A. AB then proceeded to dust TJ Classical 450-120 with a 4-power game from Prat Hegde, followed by a 460-115 win against LASA B. AB answered 31 tossups over these two games, with 5 powers against LASA B (and a 41 PP20 game from Eric Hua) and 6 against TJ. The fifth match against State College A resulted in a 275-205 loss for AB, but AB rattled off 2 wins in a row afterwards against Manheim B and Manheim A to finish the first day at 5-2. Sky Li's 75 PP20 against Manheim B is noteworthy for buoying the victory.

The second day of the 2018 HSNCT opened with a 480-235 win over Dunbar, carried by Sky Li's 3/4/2 statline. The next game was one of AB's worst at the tournament, a 0-power, 250-385 recorded loss to McLean. The recording can be found at https://s3.amazonaws.com/naqt-static/podcasts/2018-hsnct/17.mp3

AB then rebounded in the last preliminary game with a 400-250 victory against Seven Lakes, ending as a 7-3 team with two potential losses in the playoff rounds. The first playoff round was a rematch against Rockford Auburn, which proved to be an incredible round. However, a last-tossup power by Rockford Auburn dealt Acton-Boxborough its first playoff loss, 355-340. A last second get by Sky Li allowed AB to sneak by Richard Montgomery B, 300-285. The next match against Hoover resulted in a blowout, with AB losing 140-400. AB finished its season placing #32 at the 2018 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 Prat Hegde, captain, Northeastern Sky Li*, captain, Toronto Caleb Trotz (12) Eric Hua (12) Flex: Max Kim (12), Victor Wang (12)

Acton-Boxborough B (2017-2018) Anna Li (12) Basil Sousounis (9) Sam Maffa (12) Ari Xuan (11)

Old A team (2012-16) Spencer Thrope (2014-2016 QB captain) Aidan Pavao Alex Kim Sid Salunkhe B team Maxwell Kim Kevin Hu Kevin Liu '14-Case Western Tom Russell '14-Purdue (12-14 Captain) Sarang Yeola '14-Maryland (active) Victor Pavao '14-Villanova Jeff Gao '14-UNH John Russell '12-Tufts (2012 Captain) Josh Xiong '15-MIT Sid Salunkhe '16-Georgia Tech Spencer Thrope '16-Virginia Tech (12-16 Captain) Amy Wang '17-Brandeis Anna Li '18-UMass Amherst Caleb Trotz '18-Brown (17-18 Captain) Sam Maffa '18-Brown Eric Hua '18-Georgetown Sky Li '18-Toronto (17-18 Captain) Victor Wang '18-Waterloo

Maxwell Kim '18-Bentley Prat Hegde '18-Northeastern (16-18 Captain)