Harker’s A Quiz Bowl team – juniors Rohan Cherukuri, Jeffrey Fung, Kyle Li and Arun Sundaresan – spent Memorial Day weekend in Atlanta, where they finished in the top 5 percent at the High School National Championship Tournament for National Academic Quiz Tournaments. Coached by Sundaresan’s father, Sankar Sundaresan, the team tied for 19th place overall out of 336 teams. After qualifying for the playoffs, the team notched three straight wins before losing a close contest to Detroit Catholic Central, historically a very strong performer at the national level.
In another notable achievement, sophomore Daniel Wang received the Sophomore Rising Star award for his performance at the event.
Following its regional Quiz Bowl win in April, Harker’s A-team of Nikhil Manglik ’17, rising senior Edgar Lin and rising sophomores Rohan Cherukuri and Jeffrey Fung, traveled to Atlanta for the national championship. The team had a respectable finish, taking 25th in a competition with more than 300 teams. Rising sophomore Kyle Li, a member of the Harker B-team, ranked No. 2 among freshmen nationwide and was named a Freshman Rising Star. Li also was ranked 45 overall among the 1,500 participants.
Earlier this month, Harker took first place at the 2017 Northern California State Championship quiz bowl tournament, organized by National Academic Quiz Tournaments. The Harker A team of senior Nikhil Manglik, juniors Swapnil Garg and Edgar Lin, and freshman Kyle Li went 10-1 overall in the event, which took place April 15 at U.C. Berkeley. In a format similar to game shows, players were asked questions on a wide variety of topics and had to “buzz in” to answer the question before the opposing team.
The Harker A team — minus Garg, due to a schedule conflict — will be competing at the national championship in Atlanta in May, as will another team from Harker made up of ninth graders Arun Sundaresan, Jeffrey Fung and Rohan Cherukuri. Best of luck!