As the Storm varsity basketball team boarded their Delta flight from FLL to LGA, an eerie silence of understanding surrounded them. They knew this was no vacation; the Sarachek tournament was not about fun, giggling, or mediocrity. The team understood that they had purpose. They knew, as they boarded the plane and began heading to the far end near the lavatories, that this was a business trip.

 

Going into Thursday's geography bee, I was not as excited I had been in previous years, as Ransom Everglades, the reigning champions and our archrivals would not be participating in this year's bee. To make things worse, Team A, one of our two, five member teams, lost Evan Jacoby ('17), at the last minute due to illness. Yet, those doubts were soon erased as Team A, composed of myself, Leor Levenson ('16), Azi Genet ('16), Matthew Samilow ('17) and last minute replacement Ben Portnoy ('17), dominated round after round in the preliminary round robin and for the first time in school history, went undefeated in the round robin. Meanwhile, Team B, led by their captain, Aaron Kurtz ('17), and supported by Yonah Freiden ('18), Elias Attias ('16), Jonathan Leff ('17) and Jeremy Griff ('19) also impressed in the round robin portion of the bee. In a tight 4-2 victory over Scheck Hillel, Attias and Griff correctly answered critical questions to win a nail-bitter.

Following a break for lunch, both of our teams were ready for the playoffs. Team B received its highest ever seed (ranked at #5), but they were narrowly defeated at the buzzer in the quarterfinals by Scheck Hillel's A Team, 6-5.  The team from Hillel, however was soon ousted by the Gritzman-led Team A, 17-3 in the semifinals. Team A then went on to the finals where they would face a daunting challenge against the top team from Riviera Prep. Initially, the match was close, but after a few incorrect responses by Riviera, Team A pulled ahead to win the 2016 ISSF Geography Bee, 19-11.