William and Mary
| College of William & Mary | |
| |
|---|---|
| Location: Williamsburg, VA | |
| Current President or Coach | Chris Miller |
| National championships | |
| NAQT Page | link |
The College of William & Mary is a public university in Williamsburg, Virginia. William & Mary has been active on the mid-Atlantic circuit since their founding in 2006.
History
Founded by Matt Morrison in October of 2006, William & Mary Quizbowl could have theoretically been founded a year earlier by W&M Law student and former Duke Quizbowl President Darren Abernethy but he instead chose to play CBI.
In November 2006, at the first tournament the team attended (some Southern Virginia U. excuse for college quizbowl run on NAQT questions and designed for CBI-only teams), there were notably several Latter Day Saints regulations at the host venue, including a caffeine ban (which was blamed for one of W&M's two losses) and a strict dress code requiring men to shave their beards and not have long hair. Fortunately W&M's team was not kicked out despite consisting of two Jews (one of whom had a thick beard), a Russian, atheist drunkard with long hair, a Catholic gay guy, and the only "acceptable" person in that setting, Matt Morrison. The team earned its best finish to date, 2nd place to SVU's house A team. This was probably due to the weak field, though they did beat Virginia Tech A thoroughly.
Thankfully, the 2007-2008 team appeared to be less of a motley crew and to have better hygiene than the previous year's team. Matt Morrison recruited so many people that it caused an integer overflow, so only a few notable freshmen remained: Mark Guerci (former Maggie Walker captain), offensive tackle Jon Ogden (formerly of GDS), current President Dan Leifer (formerly of GDS), Ellen Speers, Matt Peppe, Matt Tobin (formerly of Bergen County Academies), and Claire Meers. Additionally, George Berry tagged along for some fall tournaments due to his previous inability to form a team at his community college.
With the loss of Matt Morrison to J. Sargeant Reynolds for the fall semester, the entire team amounted to nothing more than a handful of freshmen and sophmores. Actually returning this year were Dan Leifer, Jon Ogden, and Ellen Speers, joined by fellow classmate Alex Kashurba. After a larger than expected turnout from the activities fair recruitment, freshmen attendance eventually dwindled to the usual lackluster numbers. Staying on for the ride were newcomer Annie Adams, Lisa Iverson, Chris "The Asian Guy" Dao (who played on Maggie Walker D for a year), and Bali Gupta (formerly of Thomas Jefferson B). The team attended the Mid-Atlantic ACF Fall at VCU, where the A-team finished 3-8 and the B-team finished with a disappointing 0-11 after seeing many close matches. The team earned its first tournament win at the Reynolds Invitational Open Tournament (RIOT), hosted by J. Sargeant Reynolds. The A-team finished 11-1, beating out UMBC in a thrilling final match, while the B-team, which saw Dan Leifer pick up the neg prize with 42 negs, managed to actually win a game and finished 1-10.
Rebirth
The William & Mary team underwent a rebirth beginning in the mid-2010s, qualifying for DI ICT in 2015 (coming in 11th place) and 2016 (coming in 23r) under the leadership of Sean Smiley. This progress continued under James Cole, and in 2017 they began hosting James Blair Bowl, their own housewritten high school tournament. In 2019, W&M came in 8th place at the DII ICT and fielded a competitive B team at SCT's Virginia Tech site. In 2020 their A team comprised of Logan Feingold, Akshata Pisharody, Christian Moore, and Sadie Britton came in 5th place at the ACF Regionals UNC site.
Former Players
Current Players
Disclaimers
William & Mary Quizbowl has nothing to do with VHSL States, which has been hosted at the College long before the club was founded. Confusion may arise from the fact that in 2007 three club members were volunteers at States and Matt Morrison was hired as Group A coordinator, notably showing up last-minute wearing jeans and a golf shirt.
Also, the club was not involved at all with William & Mary's CBI program. Nick Hoelker was the only W&M player who played in both CBI and invitational tournaments.