By Mark Ambrogi
University High School views it as its own version of “Hoosiers” about a tiny high school winning the one-class state basketball championship.
The movie was loosely based on Milan’s 1954 state title run.
University, a small high school in Carmel with an enrollment of 280 students, captured the Quiz Bowl state title on April 25 by beating three much larger schools in the elimination round. In order, University topped West Lafayette Harrison High School (1,775 students), Zionsville (1,830) and North Central (3,518).
University barely qualified with a 2-2 record in the preliminary round; grabbing the final No. 8 seed spot by total points.
“They were sleepy or unfocused but thankfully had woken up by that time and they were very sharp by that point,” said University’s Chris Bradley, who is co-coach with Beth Vreede.
University then faced No. 1 seed and host school Harrison in the quarterfinals. Bradley said it would have been hard to call Harrison a rival because the biggest school usually dominates.
University had only narrowly beaten Harrison once in its six-year Quiz Bowl history and that was earlier this season. This time University won handily 360-265.
“It was a huge deal for the coaches, who started this program,” team member Monica Chavan said. “I don’t think they could see a time when they could compete with Harrison, let alone beat them. For them, it was a huge accomplishment to see how much their coaching has helped and transform the team over the past couple of years.”
University slipped by Zionsville 270-245 and then beat North Central 340-240 in the championship.
There are normally five students on University’s varsity but senior Julia Wang wasn’t able to make it because of a college trip. So the team consisted of senior twins Monica and Neil Chavan, senior Kevin Bonar and junior Christina Duffield.
The Trailblazers finished third in 2014 state Quiz Bowl, its previous high finish in the state contest.
Monica, a Carmel resident, said math and science are the team’s strengths. Monica, who plans a career in medicine, and her brother are both going to Case Western Reserve University.
“Literature, English and the arts are not our strength,” Monica said. “The first couple of rounds (in the morning) worked against us because they were heavy on the current events questions.”
Bonar, who described the competition as “Jeopardy” with teams, said the questions that made a difference were math and science.
“I like some history so I did some history,” said Bonar, a Carmel resident who plans to major in pre-pharmacy at Purdue. “Once we got used to the fact that there would be a lot of current events questions, we started doing better on those as well.”
Bradley said prior to 2014, math and science had been an Achilles heel for the team.
“Other teams would answer those questions really quickly but Julia and Christina have made a big difference in that regard,” Bradley said. “The students really have to be broadly knowledgeable. It’s a good test of mental acuity and being broadly well-rounded.”
University will advance to the national competition in Chicago in early June.
