Great Valley
| Great Valley | |
| |
|---|---|
| Location: Malvern, PA | |
| Coaches | Bern McCauley |
| State Championships | 2018 PSAC, 2021 PSAC, 2021 GPQB Poll, 2022 GPQB Poll |
| National Appearances | HSNCT (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021) PACE (2016, 2018, 2019, 2021) |
| Program Status | Active |
| School Size | 1220 (Grades 9-12) |
| NAQT Page | link |
Great Valley High School is a public school located in Malvern, PA in Southeastern PA's Chester County. The school competes in the Chester County Intermediate Unit competition's non-pyramidal league each year as well as many regional invitational tournaments. They host the GVQBT Invitational every February.
Team History
The Great Valley High School team has existed since at least the early 1990s. GV solely played on non-pyramidal local questions until the spring of 2013. To this date, GV has won Chester County league twice (2016-2017 & 2017-2018), though they have never received a league player of the year award. Great Valley won their first PA State Academic Competition Championship in 2018.
Under the tutelage of coach Bern McCauley, the team began to play pyramidal tournaments sporadically in 2012-2013, but became regulars on the circuit by 2014-2015. Still in a period of mixed focus on local and pyramidal quizbowl, the team has started to focus largely on the pyramidal circuit since 2015, despite challenging the top teams in the CCIU format. GV attended their first HSNCT and PACE-NSC in 2016. They have peaked at #2 in the GPQB Poll in 2017, and finished T-77 at 2016 HSNCT and 35th at PACE-NSC 2016. They finished T-97 at HSNCT 2017. Great Valley made their first appearance in the HSQBRank Top 100 in 2016.
Their first varsity tournament win occurred with the team defeating State College at the 2016 Lehigh Valley Academy Tournament, though they did win the six-team Villanova Tournament a few years prior. Since then, they have won the 2018 Manheim Township Spring Tournament. They have also competed at National History Bee and Bowl events, winning regional events and placing at nationals.
Notable Team Accomplishments
- T-77th Place, 2016 HSNCT
- 35th Place, 2016 PACE-NSC
- Champions, Lehigh Valley Invitational, 2016
- 3rd Place, Pennsylvania State Academic Competition, 2017
- Champions, Chester County Academic League, 2017
- T-97th Place, 2017 HSNCT
- Champions, Manheim Township Spring Tournament, 2018
- 13th Place, JV Division, National History Bowl
- 31st Place, Varsity Division, National History Bowl
- Champions, Pennsylvania State Academic Competition, 2018
- Champions, Chester County Academic League, 2018
Notable Individual Accomplishments
- Sam Scarfone (Class of 2018) will represent Team Pennsylvania at 2018 NASAT
- Sam Scarfone (Clas of 2018) was 1st Team All-State by GPQB for 2017-2018
- Sam Scarfone (Class of 2018) was the GPQB Varsity Player of the Year and 1st Team All-State by GPQB for 2016-2017
- Daniel Chen (Class of 2018) was 2nd Team All State by GPQB for 2016-2017
- Deakon McCurdy (Class of 2016) was the first GV Alum to play a college tournament (Fall 2016 Columbia Tournament for NYU with his name spelled as "Deaton McCordy")
- Sam Scarfone (Class of 2018) was the JV Player of the Year (Outstanding Freshman/Sophomore in PA) and Honorable Mention All-State by GPQB in 2015-2016.
- Deakon McCurdy (Class of 2016) was Honorable Mention All-State by GPQB in 2015-2016
- Coach Bern McCauley was the 2015-2016 Chester County and 2015-2016 GPQB Coach of the Year
Alumni
- Dan Dore, Class of 2012
- Philip Chow, Class of 2012
- Deakon McCurdy, Class of 2016
- Everett Beauregard, Class of 2017
- Sam Scarfone, Class of 2018
Fun Facts
The 2012 GV Academic Team qualified for the Chester County Academic League final only to have most of the team miss the league championship due to a music trip.