Catonsville High It's Academic Team Has Best Season in Years

After beating out 81 teams in the Baltimore region, the It's Academic Team for played in the 'super bowl' of the popular academic television quiz show over the weekend.

The on-air team of Senior Chris Blair, Junior Adam Antoszewski and Junior Abel Deneke were thrilled to perform at the competition, advisor Joel Miller said.

"The atmosphere was celebratory and it was a nice reward for all of their hard work this season and a nice capstone for Chris, who has been a part of the team for four years," Miller wrote in an email.

On Saturday, the team placed second behind the Washington, D.C. region winner, Blake High School, but ahead of the central Virginia winner, Louisa County High School.

Last year, the team lost in the semifinal round, according to an article in the Catonsville Times. The teachers don't believe that the school has performed this well in the 1980s.

The students attributed their loss to not being as fast on the buzzer as Blake, Antoszewski wrote in an email, as the team knew most of the answers.

"This was the farthest Catonsville had ever gone in the competition, which is a huge honor. I mean, we will be forever enshrined on the It's Academic Wikipedia page as soon as they update it to list the schools who competed in the Superbowl," he wrote in an email.