HORACE GREELEY
IS THE NO. 1 ACADEMIC TEAM IN THE NATION
capturing the title ten years after their first national championship
Representing the powerful Westchester County (NY) bloc, Horace Greeley won their second national title with decisive playoff wins. It's their first national championship under the leadership of Coach Nicole Diamente. Westchester County has now won three national championships since 2003, including Byram Hills in 2006.
No teams finished undefeated in the Varsity division, however. Horace Greeley suffered a preliminary-round 270-300 loss to Fossil Ridge from Colorado. Fossil Ridge, in turn, was defeated in the playoffs by Lenape (NJ) – not a first-year participant, but it was their first year in the playoffs. And Lenape enjoyed a nice playoff run, going on to defeat Ardsley (NY) 280-230 before falling to Coronado B (TX), 270-335.
Greeley's triumph in most years would not take us by surprise – after all, they have logged more air miles at our expense than any other school -- but this year it did. They had not joined us in 2012, for the first time in living memory. They did not win our QuizNet tournaments. They did not make the Final Four in Westchester's Omar Q. Beckins tournament in 2013. But on Playoff Sunday in DC and Playoff Monday in Chicago they were invincible, 12-0, setting a new record for number of wins in a single tournament.
