UNM's College Bowl team took second place at a national competition over the weekend.
Students Jason Zuffranieri, Vanessa Gatsch, Chad McCoy, John McCulloch and John Ogren participated in the 2008 College Bowl National Championship Tournament, which was held at Macalester College.
The competition is a fast-paced game that tests participants by asking them questions about history, science and popular culture. Sixteen schools participated.
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Ohio State, University of Rochester and UNM competed in the final four.
Andrea Hart, faculty adviser for the team, said she was pleased with UNM's performance.
"I am extremely proud of this team," she said. "This is a huge step in the right direction, and it allows future teams the ability to move forward and be successful again."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Hart said the team might be capable of repeating its performance next year.
"We have a solid team of veterans that help the younger students learn from the experiences and who mentor the younger students through harder times," she said.
Hart said Zuffranieri played a large role in the team's success.
"Jason is an amazing person and a very strong leader and mentor," she said. "Jason and the team have practiced and prepared for this event by asking questions to each other and really preparing for how questions are asked."
Zuffranieri said the team averaged 77.86 points per game. He tied with Washington University's Gordon Arsenoff for most individual points.
Ogren said the literature and history questions are the most difficult.
"Anything in those two realms, I kind of miss out on," he said. "I find questions regarding science to be the easiest. Being a physics major, that's pretty much what I spend all my time doing."
Zuffranieri said he expected next year's team to be just as successful as the Lobo basketball team.
"The teams have made it before, and I am sure the team will be able to make it again," he said.
