Washington Middle School had two teams competing online in the Moberly Young Scholar's Tournament (MYST) on Saturday, February 13. There were 22 teams attending, which were split into four groups for prelims - two groups of six and two groups of five.
The WMS A team finished in third place while the B team placed fourth.
The WMS A team, in a group of five, went 4-0 with wins over Moberly B, Hallsville, Springfield Cherokee, and Columbia Independent (CIS) C to win their prelim bracket and make the playoffs.
The WMS B team, in a group of six, defeated Springfield Pershing B and Schuyler B. They then dropped a close match to South Shelby. They rebounded to edge out Southern Boone County Red by 10 points on the very last question, and then beat CIS D to go 4-1.
Southern Boone and South Shelby also went 4-1, creating a three-way tie that was broken by total points scored. This placed the B team as second in the bracket, and in the playoffs.
The eight playoff teams were placed into two groups of four teams. Winners of these groups would play for the title, second place in the groups would play for third, etc.
In Round 6, the WMS A team beat Schuyler A and the WMS B team defeated CIS B. In Round 7, the A Team then beat Sullivan A, but the B team dropped the match to CIS A.
In Round 8, the B team rebounded to beat Hallsville, but the A team had a rough match, dropping a 20-point game to Southern Boone County Red. This put both teams at second place in their respective playoff brackets, at 2-1, putting them both in the third-place match against each other.
In the third-place match, the A team defeated the B team, 420-145. That placed the A team third, and the B team fourth.
As this was played on questions provided by National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT), it works as a qualifier to nationals in May. To qualify, you have to place in the top 15 percent, rounded up. With 22 teams, there were four bids up for grabs, so both WMS teams have qualified once registration opens.
CIS A won the final over Southern Boone, 480-115.
WMS A team members were Bryan Austin, Dani Benhardt, Alina Hayden (fourth place prelim scoring medal with 73.75 points per game), and Will Schenk.
WMS B team members were Peter Bush, Ash Lindsey, Andrea Martin, Nathan Oreskovic (first place prelim scoring medal with 88 points per game), and Callie Vogt.