Avon’s Brainstormers team wrapped up a successful 2022 season late last month with a run to the finals at Genesee Valley BOCES’ May Center in Mount Morris.
Brainstormers is a quiz bowl-style competition that challenges students’ ability to recall facts from all academic areas and tests their knowledge of general knowledge topics like current events, pop culture, sports and the arts.
Teams consist of eight members and matches consist of two halves. Each half includes a four-minute toss up round, where team members buzz in to answer a question. After that, each team gets a 60-second lightning round, which consists of rapid-fire questions on one topic. After each team has completed their lightning round, they again go head-to-head during a three-minute toss up round. The end of this shorter toss-up round marks the end of the half. The order is then repeated in the second half with new team members on each side. At the end of the match, the team that’s collected the most points is declared the winner.
Avon booked its ticket to the March 22 finals match with a 370-190 win over Livonia in the semifinals. Avon fought Geneseo hard in the first half of the finals match and headed into the break down 80-170. The Braves were hoping for the “All About the Birds” lightning round category, said coach Sarah Dziekonski, but Geneseo got to it first.
“We got a category called ‘Old!’ which was all about the oldest things in the U.S. Oldest schoolhouse, oldest working state constitution, things like that,” said Dziekonski. “The bird one was about different bird species and Geneseo got all of the questions right. We only got one of the ‘Old!’ questions right.”
In the end, Geneseo won the finals 340-210. Avon finished its 2022 season with a 4-2 record, with both losses coming against Geneseo.
Top scorers for Avon this season were juniors Michael F., Noah L., Sydney M. and Aiden W. Top newcomers to keep an eye out for next year are Ethan L. and Ben W.
Other team members include junior Nautica M., sophomores Katrina D., Isis S. and Piper V. and freshmen Delaney B., Allie C., Owen L. and Olivia N.
Members of Avon’s Brainstormers team pose for a photo following their March 22 loss to Geneseo in the finals. Avon took second place and finished its 2022 season with a 4-2 record.