Words: Chy Murali
On May 16, Centennial’s It’s Academic team came in first place in the It’s Academic TV Super Bowl in Washington, DC. It will air on June 27 at 7 pm on WJZTV Channel 13 and WRCTV Channel 4. The team consisted of seniors Ryan Heslin, Anant Mishra, and junior Gary Tse. Alternates included seniors Weijia Cheng and Mohammed Khader. Centennial competed against Blake High School of Montgomery County and Rappahannock High School of Virginia. Centennial has won the Baltimore Metro Championship in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2013, and 2015.
This is the second time Centennial has beat the Washington D.C. Metro Area and Central Virginia Champions, the first being in 2009. Captain Ryan Heslin, who made his second appearance at the competition, was glad that the team won a stressful game and came back successfully from their 2013 loss to Blake High School. “I’m very glad that my third and final season on the show has been so successful,” he said, “It would have been very disappointing if we had never won a Super Bowl.”
At the end of the show, Centennial was tied with Blake High School 450 to 450. Ryan Heslin correctly answered the tiebreaker question thus winning the competition. “I felt relieved more than anything else,” he said, “I had made several mistakes during the game, and I would have been upset if we had lost.”
Anant Mishra felt the accomplishment was a team win. “I am extremely happy with how we played as a team and worked together,” he said, “It was truly a team win.” Weijia Cheng was also happy for his teammates’ victory. “I think they definitely deserved to win, having the right combination of real knowledge and instinct to outsmart the TV show questions,” he said.
The team has amassed a total of $6500 dollars in total scholarships for the contestants. Centennial will be attending several national competitions as the NAQT HSNCT in Chicago, Illinois, from May 29-31, and the PACE NSC in Reston, Virginia, on June 6.
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