Gallatin

Gallatin
Location: Gallatin, TN
Coaches	Brian Hoover
National Appearances	2025 HSNCT [1]
Program Status	Active
School Size	~1,650
NAQT Page	link

Gallatin High School is a public 9-12 school in Gallatin, Tennessee. It is very active in the Middle Tennessee circuit, competing in tournaments ranging from the WCTE Academic Bowl to county-wide night leagues. Gallatin also hosts the annual Spring Forward middle school tournament. Gallatin was slated to attend their first national championship in the 2020 HSNCT, before its unfortunate cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but was later able to make their first Nationals appearance at the 2025 HSNCT.

History

The Gallatin Academic Team was founded in 2003, with their first recorded tournament appearance being at the 3rd Annual Vergilian Classic Invitational in 2007. [2] Brian Hoover remains the lone head coach in school history. The 2018-2019 Gallatin team was notable in the fact that it featured three eventual TACA All-State players, out of the five the school produced altogether. Despite this, the team did not qualify for HSNCT, and never eclipsed 290 PPG at a NAQT tournament. In 2019-2020, the team captured the Sumner County Academic League regular season title with an 11-1 record, barely edging out a Merrol Hyde team that finished 10-2 (and would have held the tiebreaker.) However, they finished second to Merrol Hyde at the Sumner County High School Championship. [3].

In 2020, William Barnes became the first Gallatin graduate to appear in a Quizbowl competition at the collegiate level [4], later joined by Chris Wright.

The school captured the 2024-2025 Sumner County High School Championship by triumphing over Merrol Hyde, 440-210. The team also achieved their highest finish at the Tennessee State Quiz Bowl Tournament in this year, finishing in Second Place just behind University School of Nashville. [5] Previously, these players had also won the JV title at the 2022 Tusculum Earlybird, a mirror of KICKOFF. [6]

WCTE Academic Bowl

Perhaps most notably, Gallatin has been very successful at the televised WCTE Academic Bowl. They won the championship in 2016, 2019, 2020, and 2024, on top of finishing second to Cookeville a considerable number of years. 2016 also marked the first championship for longtime coach Brian Hoover, either as a player or coach. In 2023, Hoover was instrumental in the resurrection of the WCTE Academic Bowl after its brief hiatus.

School Records

• Points In a Game: 145, TIE between Chris Wright (2021) [7] and Lucas Bolinger (2022) [8]
• Points Per Game Over a Tournament (Prelims): 95, Gareth Turner (2024) [9]
• Points Per Game Over a Tournament (Overall): 79.44, Gareth Turner (2024) [10]
• Tournament Wins: 4, Gareth Turner, Marley McDaniel, Andrew Wright (2022-2024)

Past Captains

• Evan Hickson (2011-2013)
• Jordan Allen (2013-2015)
• Noah Butler (2015-2016)
• Michael Kachinski (2016-2017)
• Ben Becker (2017-2019)
• William Barnes (2019-2020)
• Chris Wright (2020-2021)
• Lucas Bolinger/ Jacob Graves (2021-2022)
• No formal captain was declared for the 2022-2023 or 2023-2024 seasons.
• Andrew Wright (2024-2025)

All-State Selections

Under TACA, the TACA All-State Team was four players from the entire state selected by coach voting. After the effective replacement of TACA starting in 2022-2023, the All-State team transitioned to being a predetermined number of top scorers at the annual Tennessee State Quiz Bowl Tournament.

• Rachel Hawkins (2008)
• Noah Butler (two-time selection, years unknown)
• Ben Becker (2019)
• William Barnes (2020)
• Chris Wright (2021, final Gallatin selection to the TACA All-State Team)
• Lucas Bolinger (2022)
• Jacob Graves (2022)
• Gareth Turner (2023, 2024)
• Andrew Wright (2023)

Notable Alumni

• Rachel Hawkins, 2008 selection to the TACA All-State Team
• Noah Butler, two-time selection to the TACA All-State Team
• Ben Becker, 2019 selection to the TACA All-State Team and participant in the 2019 IPNCT [11]
• William Barnes, 2020 selection to the TACA All-State Team and Quizbowl President at Tennessee
• Chris Wright, 2021 selection to the TACA All-State Team, participant in the 2021 Panel on Diversity, competitor at the 2021 IPNCT [12], and semi-active player at Harvard