For the 5th year out of 7, HSU’s team garnered 1st place at the 2007 National Quiz Bowl in Tucson, Arizona. The sweet taste of victory for the rookie team came Sunday, September 23rd.
“I love ‘em,” says Dr. David Kitchen, Professor of Wildlife Management and National speaking of his top ranked squad. “We had a brand new group of students. You always wonder how they’ll do. It was a total rookie team.”
And, the pressure was on them; a reputation at stake. The score was tied in the championship round when questioning turned to animal sounds.
“I knew we knew our animal sounds,” says Kitchen. And, sure enough, the team nailed the cricket question.
Next came a bird’s song. “We’re really good with our bird calls. We have students who do Biology by ear. And, it’s at that point in the competition that we really took off.”
The team came through on the ornithology question and never looked back. Their challenger in the championship, Stephen F. Austin State University hailing from Nacogdoches, Texas, never scored another point. HSU took home the coveted trophy to the College of Natural Resources and Sciences with a score of 125 to 75.
Sixteen teams in all competed, the largest showing in the 10 year history of the Quiz Bowl. Four of those teams were Big 10 schools.
For years, HSU’s team has been the one every other institution is gunning for. And, with HSU’s rookie team this season, competing coaches were optimistic that maybe this would be their year.
“However, during the very first round our young team answered a real stumper of a question and you could see the wind go out of the entire room. You could see other teams deflate,” says Kitchen. “A lot of heavy hitters were there and they were dismayed.” Once again, HSU proved itself the team to beat
“The other coaches came up and asked how we do it. We know the questions for ALL areas. I think its how we train,” chuckles Kitchen. “We just get together and we have a good time. Other coaches get complicated. I keep it really simple. We work on the fundamentals of what you need to be a wildlife biologist,” says Kitchen. “Just for fun, I toss up a question about frog calls or insect sounds, too.”
Fans of the National Quiz Bowl come not only to watch, but to find the best and brightest in the field and offer them jobs. Those job offers are flowing already to team members. One has landed a graduate assistantship at another institution following completion of their degree at HSU. Several have jobs for next summer sewn up already and one landed a permanent gig after graduation with the New Mexico Department of Fish and Game. “And, these are only sophomores and juniors!” an impressed Kitchen adds.
Also, equally impressive were photography awards brought home from the 2007 National Quiz Bowl. HSU students netted 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the landscape category, second place in the creativity and 3rd in the human dimension category.
But, it wasn’t all work in Tucson for HSU’s team. Dr. Kitchen organized evening field trips into the desert. Students held tarantulas, photographed rattle snakes and caught scorpions. Other teams heard of these adventures, figured desert forays were better than watching TV back at the hotel and wanted to go on the HSU field trips, too. Pretty soon a whole contingent of Quiz Bowl teams could be found out on the sand trying to get the perfect picture of “the most beautiful black-tailed rattle snake,” says Kitchen. “Many didn’t know how to pick up a tarantula. So, we taught them.”
HSU team members were glad to act as guides. “The other school didn’t even bring flashlights. We had flashlights and snake sticks. I was kind of surprised how unprepared the other schools were compared to us,” says Amanda Alaniz, a member of the championship team.
Members of HSU’s national championship team include team captain Dustin Marsh, Daryl Coldren, Lauren Maestas, Vitek Jiriniec, and an alternative Ryan Heppler. Other members of the HSU team entered in the photo competition include Amanda Alaniz, Corinna Elwood, Jay Iwasaki, Rani Ram, Lauren Sanchez, and Rebecca Valdez. And, each will undoubtedly hold a special place in their heart for the chirp of a cricket.