The Grove | Valencia College

Valencia Brain Bowl and Team Coach Recognized

Apr

6

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Left to right: Assistant Coach Sean Platzer, visting professor, humanities; Marli Watson; Xander Dillman-Meyers; Rohan Khelani; and Coach Chris Borglum, professor, English (not pictured Kimi Wright)

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

A Message from Wendy Givoglu, Interim President, East and Winter Park Campuses

The Valencia Brain Bowl team took fifth place at the virtual Community College Championship Tournament hosted by National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT) on Saturday, February 26, 2022. Even though the tournament was virtual, four players and the two coaches gathered together in a classroom on West Campus to facilitate better player communication.

Student and team captain Xander Dillman-Meyers was an all-star as the seventh place overall scorer, while student Marli Watson was the top scoring female player in the tournament, finishing ninth overall. Students Rohan Khelani and Kimi Wright round out the team’s roster.

This is only the third time since NAQT has hosted a community college national tournament, starting in 2001, that Valencia has finished out of the top three. “Finishing fifth in the nation is nothing to be ashamed about,” said Professor of English and team coach Chris Borglum. “I know the players hoped for a higher finish. But we lost two very close games, and that’s how it goes sometimes.”

Chris was recently recognized with the Gordon Carper Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academic Competition Federation (ACF). This award is given to members of the national quiz bowl community who exhibit dedication to and long-term support for academic competitions. ACF’s announcement noted that “Few people have had such a long-term impact on the college game. By directing so much of his energy into the community college circuit, Chris has done as much as anyone to make quiz bowl available to students from non-traditional backgrounds.”

Congratulations to Chris and the team!

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