It was right down to the wire Saturday with Arendell Parrott Academy trailing Greene Central High School, when Parrott suddenly took the lead and held it.
It was Quiz Bowl 2013, sponsored by the Kinston-Lenoir County Public Library.
Seven teams competed at the 32nd annual event.
Greene Central, which hasn’t competed for a number of years, was in the lead throughout most of the last game.
Then Greene Central missed the question, “Who gave his name to the sequence beginning 11235?” Parrott answered “Fibinocci” correctly and gained half-credit, or 15 points.
The next question followed for Parrott, “Which two goddesses did the Greeks blame for the Trojan War because Paris, in selecting the fairest of the goddesses, did not find them as beautiful as Aphrodite?”
Parrott jumped ahead to 135 points with the answer “Hera and Athena.”
Neither team answered the final question correctly, and Parrott won by 15 points.
It came down to the last question, so it got kind of difficult,” Forrest Kriss of Parrott said.
The Parrott team met twice a week until a couple of weeks before the event, then three times a week, to practice.
“We just drill questions,” said Captain Lee Jenkins.
Agnes Ho, the library system’s executive director, said the students work hard to compete.
“I think it’s a really good promotion for people, for students,” she said. “We have done this for 36 years.”
The two teams faced 10-, 20- and 30-point questions by moderator, David Sawyer, chief meteorologist with WNCT in Greenville.
Some of the earlier questions during the competition included “What is the slope of the line y =-3x + 6?” (negative 3), “What weekly current events magazine is available only in an online version?” (Newsweek) and “Who built the Biltmore Estate near Asheville, North Carolina?” (James Vanderbuilt).
Parrott will compete at the Eastern North Carolina Regional Quiz Bowl. There will be no state competition this year, Ho said.
The Friends of the Kinston-Lenoir Public Library sponsored the event.
Members of the Parrott team each receive a $50 Visa gift card, while the members of the runner up team, Greene Central, each receive a $25 Visa gift card.
Margaret Fisher can be reached at 252-559-1982 or Margaret.Fisher@Kinston.com.
Breakout box:
ArendellParrottAcademyteam members:
Lee Jenkins, Captain
Thomas Grady
Forrest Kriss
Conor Whitlark
GreeneCentralHigh Schoolteam members:
Harrison Welch, Captain
Kristen Bubak
Jeffrey Bubak
P.T. Harrison
Other participating teams:
Bethel Christian Academy
Lenoir County Early College High School
Kinston High School
North Lenoir High School
SouthLenoirHigh School