 Trivial pursuits produce triumph
By Mary-Kathryn Craft The SUN NEWS
Every obscure fact and detail about current events counts at the Beach Ball Classic Academic Olympics. Just
ask champion Seton Hall Preparatory High from West Orange, N.J. The four-member academic team was
down 20 points as time ticked away during Sunday's final game at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. A last-second,
100-point world geography question pulled the team into the lead against White Station of Memphis, Tenn. [webmaster
note: The question was the last one on the board. Andrew Alves jumped on a White Station fumble of the country of
origin of "Hadrian" of Hadrian's Wall fame; White Station's answer of "Scotland" was incorrect; he pounced correctly
with "Spain." In the previous round, in a similar do-or-die situation Laurence Tai nailed the correct response for the city
and country with the FOURTH tallest building in the world- Shanghai China].
Then Seton Hall answered four of the five Round 3 questions to win the game 825-795.
Each game has three rounds. The first two rounds include toss-up questions that players buzz in to answer. The third
round features a five-part question that allows players to discuss their answers before writing them down.
Relieved was the word Seton Hall senior Lawrence Tai used to describe his feelings after the game. "We just try to work
as a team," he said. "We try to get as many answers as we can and try our best." Tai's team was undefeated in the
four-day tournament that pits high-school teams in a battle of knowledge and trivia.
Played much like Jeopardy!, the Academic Olympics is in its fourth year as a companion to the Beach Ball Classic
Basketball Tournament. Carolina Forest High, the previous year's champion, finished third overall after losing to Seton Hall and White Station.
Carolina Forest, the only local team left Sunday, was undefeated until losing to Seton Hall. "It was very different [this
year]," said Carolina Forest junior Jarrett Calder. "These schools were new this year. We didn't know who was going to be good."
Calder and teammates Ben Ellenburg, Aimee Ault and James Beard faced White Station after their loss to Seton Hall. [webmaster's note: During this match, Calder and Tai got into a titanic one-on-one struggle over the course of a three
minute period in round 2. Like Ali-Frazier or Russell-Chamberlain matchup=s of the the last century, they traded early
buzz-ins and high-value out-of-the-blue correct responses that jacked up the score at a break-neck pace.] Carolina Forest
beat White Station in its first game of the tournament. The rematch was close with the teams trading off on control of
the board. The second round ended in a tie, but after a challenge about a question, White Station went ahead 650-570. The final score was 725-595.
"White Station is a very good team," Calder said. "They deserve to be in the finals. ... We didn't play as good. They just
played a heck of a good game." Carolina Forest won $4,250 in scholarship money. Champion Seton Hall won $21,500. Because of funding cuts, the
tournament offered $37,000 in scholarships, down from $50,000 in past years. "Unfortunately, with the recent events
that have happened in our country ... funding was reduced," said Sue Veer, who directs the tournament.
Founding sponsors AVX Corp., Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc., Santee Cooper, Horry Telephone Cooperative and Bank of
America started the tournament four years ago to promote academic excellence and support higher education. They
pledged money for both a local tournament and the Beach Ball event. Horry County high schools play in November for
scholarship money and the chance to compete at the Beach Ball.
This year, the county's top teams split $40,000 in scholarships. The top three - Carolina Forest, Socastee and Aynor - competed in the Beach Ball. [end of story]
More Tai legend material: In the semi-final, a question about 500 marbles of 5 different colors, in a bag, and how many
marbles you'd need to draw BLINDFOLDED in order to be certain you had 5 marbles of the same color, drew a quick
response of "401" from LT. The moderator responded "No, I'm sorry, the correct response is 21." At the break, the
answer was challenged. After 20 minutes, the 60 point deduction was restored, and the 60 points were added to the Prep's score. ROUND 3
SHP 945 - The Colony [TX] 135
Lightning quick buzz-ins early on by Laurence Tai, led to some trigger-happy responses by the Colony's participants later
in the 2nd round, leaving them open for some easy pick-ups by the Hall. The Hall led 500 to 80 at the first break. LT, following President Bush's directive from the start, was on a roll from the first question. His range included
identifying Alexander Calder as the sculptor of the 25 foot propeller found in the wreckage of the World Trade Towers, as
well as identifying "asbestos" after a 30 word definition. He was backed by Peter DellaPennas id'ing of Ricky Herderson
as the all-time walk leader. His first answer to the math questions sparked a commemt from the moderator: " Laurence,
you could have used scrap paper if you wanted." His next response was to figure the median of a list of about 10 2-digit numbers. He needed about 3 seconds.
Thankfully, all eight players missed the name and occupation of the winner of CBS' Survivor game.
In the final round nearly every question on "General Knowledge" was too tough for everyone. No one knew that a pregnant goldfish was called a "twit". ! ROUND 2
SHP 1460 to Villa Angela St. Joseph [OH] 535
[350 -150 at break]. LT gets hot in the 2nd round, then Pirates run the table in the Final five-part question for 125 points. ROUND 1
SHP 1135- No. Hardin HS [KY] 185
Early jitters appeared to have the Prep behind by a couple of points in the earliest going. Then the Hall got moving as the
first intermission approached; 160 to 20 at the break.
Viola hit a stunner by matching up 4 Civil War battles with their winning generals; Tai buzzed in quicker than the others
with the correct answer to "Which witch did Dorothy wipe out with water? [West] and the battle linked with the famous photo of the HMS Sheffield on fire [Falklands].
In the second period Seton Hall expanded their lead with Tai hitting on Madame Tousseau's Wax Museum, Della Penna
getting a Joe Namath question, and following it up with a Philadelphia Eagles question moments later.
When the Southern team fumbled an answer on a Shakespeare quote, Tai gobbled up the miscue with "Marc Antony" for
80 points, and shortly therafter delivered perhaps the coup de gras with his handling of a question on the name of Hercules' apple collection [!!!], worth 100 pts.
Other Participating Schools:
- Aynor HS, Aynor SC
- Carolina Forest HS, Myrtle Beach, SC
- Christian Brothers Academy, Lincroft, NJ
- Evangel Academy, Shreveport, LA
- Latta HS, Latta SC
- Lexington HS, Columbia SC
- Lincoln HS, Brooklyn NY
- North Hardin HS, Radcliff, KY
- Scott County HS, Georgetown, KY
- Simon Gratz HS, Philadelphia, PA
- Socastee HS, Myrtle Beach, SC
- The Colony HS, The Colony, TX
- Wilson HS, Florence, SC
- White Station HS, Memphis TN
- Villa Angela St. Joseph HS, Cleveland, OH
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