Cape Central High School's CIA wins additional honors

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), also known as the Cape Central High School Academic Competition Team, competed in a national qualifier tournament at Columbia, MO, sponsored by the Missouri National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC, on March 20. The CIA qualified for the NAQT High School National Championship Tournament to be held in May in Chicago. The Tigers won their first nine games of the tournament before sustaining a loss, and finished in a tie-breaker for second place.

Team captain Josh Wen led the Tigers and topped all individual scorers at the tournament, which featured teams from all over Missouri. It was the fifth time this season that Wen has emerged as a tournament's top medalist.

Other Tigers competing Saturday included second-leading scorer Prithvi Rudrappa, Kelsey Martin, Owen Hill, Adam Legrand and Tony Guidos. The CIA now looks ahead to the district tournament on April 17 at North County High School. Sectionals follow on April 22 and the state tournament takes place in Columbia on May 8.

The previous weekend, the CIA traveled to De Soto High School and finished in second place in a sixteen-team field. Owen Hill, Kelsey Martin, and Lizzie Nussbaum competed for the Tigers, and Josh Wen won top medalist with an average of more than twelve toss-ups per game.