In my experience, Valedictorians have not made
very good quiz bowl players. Genrally speaking, the
people with the highest GPA's tend to focus on the
material directly related to their school work, and do not
pick up a broad base of knowledge. Conversely, those
who do excel in academic competition, often do not
make the best grades, because they neglect their
school work while building that broad base of knowledge.
In fact, I believe a recent book discussed the low
correlation between quiz bowl playing and high GPAs. Of
course, this is not true across the board.
Mark