College Bowl Makes Nationals

Harvard's College Bowl Incorporated (CBI) National Tournament after defeating MIT in the regional tournament this past Saturday.

The winning team consisted of five students: team captain Mark C. Staloff '98, Matt S. Caywood '98 and a graduate student who wished to remain anonymous.

The tournament, which was held at the University of New Hampshire, featured teams from 12 schools, including Dartmouth, UCONN and Brandeis.

In the competition, teams played in four round-robin games, each with two seven-minute halves.

Harvard beat MIT in the final round by winning the first two of three games.

Staloff described the final round as a "grudge match."

"Last [year], we lost to them at regionals," he said. "It was really bad."

Two years ago, Harvard took the top spot and went on to be the first Ivy League team to win nationals. MIT won the national tournament last year.

Madhavan said that during the competition, "we stay relatively calm [and] don't get too spastic."

Madhavan and Staloff, both third-year team members, attributed their success to good "team chemistry."

"A lot of teamwork [is] involved," said Madhavan.

Harvard College sponsored this year's team by providing the entry fee, but the team had to supply their own transportation.

"[It was a] terrible year financially," said Staloff, nothing that the team had to pay to replace a lost buzzer system.

The College Bowl club consists of 25 to 30 members. According to Staloff, Harvard's best players distinguish themselves during team practices.

Madhavan said that each player has a different playing style and that the team tries to attain a good balance of players.

"[There are] people who tend to answer questions in a certain [academic] area, [but most members can] cover all areas," she added.

The national tournament will take place at Monclaire University in New Jersey in April.

There are 16 teams in the finals, one from each region and one wild-card. This year's competitors will include Stanford, University of Chicago and Cornell.