The History Bowl varsity A team placed second at this season’s second regional tournament, hosted at Saratoga High on Feb. 10, finishing with a record of 7-1 after seeding first in the top eight teams. Once again, they lost their final round to the Pi-oneers, a homeschooled team and long-time rival.

Saratoga’s varsity B team placed in the top eight with a record of 4-2, also losing their final round to the Pi-oneers. Varsity C and the JV teams did not make the playoffs, but varsity C and JV D did qualify for nationals.

Senior Kiran Rachamallu and juniors Grant Chen and Jason Hong placed in top 10 of History Bee after the preliminaries. Chen and Hong placed third and fourth respectively in History Bee finals.

This History Bowl tournament was larger than the previous regional, with newcomers such as Virgil Middle School and Davis Senior High School providing new competition for the teams.

Chen noticed a definite improvement in the performance of newer players from last tournament.

“Our JV teams were weaker at the beginning of the year since a lot last year’s JV became juniors this year,” Chen said. “But JV’s doing well and definitely improving, while varsity is generally staying good.

Looking forward, Chen expects the team to improve with more practice before their last regional tournament in March and History Bowl nationals in late April. Hong and Rachamallu have taken steps to help members with their performance, including compiling lists of history resources and providing coaching for their teammates during their weekly practices.  

For the most part, members improve simply by studying history with dedication. 

“There’s not too much strategy-wise besides buzzing for the correct answer,” Chen said. “You can shift members around or get better at guessing names, but our wins will come from being better prepared than the other teams.”