JOHNSTOWN — Scholars from Bishop McCort High School are gearing up for the next level of quiz competition.
The team, crowned champion of the Central Western Scholastic Quiz League on Nov. 18, will face the winner of the Blair-Bedford Scholastic Quiz League on a date that has yet to be scheduled.
The winner will represent the region in the state finals in Harrisburg next year.
The undefeated Crimson Crushers defeated Somerset Area 53-31 in the championship match.
“Somerset was a really good team,” McCort captain Mark Pesto said. “They gave us a hard fight.”
With 92 points, Pesto, a junior, was the top scorer in the league.
“We all contributed to the victory,” he said.
Jeff Wainwright, a senior, said all the members of the team did a great job.
“It feels great,” he said about winning the championship.
Wainwright, who was sixth-highest scorer in the league with 56 points, said the competition is rewarding because it gives students the opportunity to apply what they have learned at school.
Julia Korenoski, a sophomore, said that winning the championship was a team effort.
“Everyone had their own strengths,” she said.
The league is beneficial for students because the diverse questions they have to answer help to broaden their knowledge, Korenoski said.
All three said their coach, Fran Pozun, did a great job of guiding them.
The other members of the team are August Airsman and Michael Pruchnik, both seniors, and Mason del Rosario, a junior.
“I’m very proud of my team,” Pozun said.
Pruchnik and del Rosario were the math scholars for the team and Wainwright was an expert in geography and current events, she said.
Korenoski excelled at geography and popular culture, and Pesto contributed to the literature and social studies questions, Pozun said.
Airsman was their science expert,.
McCort has been in the league for about eight years and this is the first time it has won the championship.
Patrick Kovalsky, league commissioner, said McCort has always been able to field a great quiz team.
“I believe that is a reflection of their program’s strength and the skill of Fran Pozun, their coach,” he said.
The McCort team played well under pressure, Kovalsky said.
Runner-up Somerset was under the guidance of two new coaches. The team’s high finish speaks well of their program, he said.
The other teams in the league are Forest Hills, Richland, Westmont Hilltop, Greater Johnstown, Central Cambria, Bishop Carroll, Cambria Heights, Northern Cambria, Conemaugh Valley, Windber Area, Penn Cambria and Portage Area.
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