East Lansing -- Novi Detroit Catholic Central, DeWitt and Kalamazoo Christian high schools emerged from the 2008 State Championship High School Quiz Bowl tournament with state titles in their respective classes. 

   More than 700 Michigan high school students from across the state gathered at Michigan State University on April 18-19 to participate in the competition former Senate Majority Leader Dan L. DeGrow began as an annual event 21 years ago. 

   The event, sponsored by the Michigan State University Honors College and Meijer was held at MSU for the eighth time.

   State Quiz Bowl consists of three simultaneously run tournaments: Class A, Class B and Class C/D.  The competition is double-elimination and is open to quiz teams who have won either a league championship or major tournament.

   In the Class A finals, Detroit Catholic Central took first place beating Novi in the final. Members of the Detroit Catholic Central team, coached by Jason Jones and Jospeh Polzin, included Joe Sheeran, Brett Harrison, Jonathon Vargo, Bryan Berend, Mike Wolf, Kayvon Rashidi, Sean Bridenbaugh, Shane Joychan, Michael Yurko and Matthew Nicholas. 

   The second place team from Novi, coached by Robert Baker and Carol Baker, included Robert Burgos, Sami Khan, Ruixiao Zuo, Nazifa Islam, Andrew Phillips, Bala Sekaran, Stephanie Chen, Stephanie Raymundo, Scott Kelber, Sudharshan Mohanram and Jingyun Fan. Defending championEast Lansing was third. 

   Catholic Central went undefeated on the first day of the tournament, beating East Lansing 640-390 and advanced to the winner's bracket. East Lansing beat Novi 505-310 forcing both teams into the loser's bracket.

   Both Novi and East Lansing faced each other again the next day. Novi beat East Lansing in a rematch by a score of 520-510 to earn the right to face Catholic Central in the final.

   Novi beat then beat Catholic Central 585-360 to give both teams one loss for the tournament and force a winner-take-all match for the title. Novi took the early lead in the final match, but Catholic Central rallied to win in the final seconds by a score of 550-535, given the Shamrocks the title.

   "This year's field was one of the most competitive fields I have seen in my seven-years of coaching DCC's academic team," said Jones. "Novi, East Lansing, and DCC were all very evenly matched teams who were slugging it out until the final seconds of each match. My team and I were both expecting to see last year's state champions East Lansing in the finals, but Novi pulled off a last-second upset to advance to the finals. Novi played extremely well in the final two matches, and my boys had to dig extremely deep to pull of the win against such a strong competitor."

   Catholic Central has won the Class A championship 11 times and has won the tournament three of the past four years. The Shamrocks' overall competition record is 114 wins and 14 losses. They have competed in seven different states in 21 different academic tournaments.

   Jones fielded one of his youngest teams in recent history, as only one of the players had ever competed in a state championship tournament before.

   "The pressure of a big game can really rattle the nerves of some of the guys," said Jones. "I thought they played with a lot of focus and effort, and I am extremely proud of what they have accomplished this season.  From a coaching perspective, I am glad that most of these guys will be coming back next year to defend their title."

   In the Class B competition, DeWitt beat defending champion Beverly Hills Detroit Country Day in two final matches. Mark Bogner, Jimmy Dunn, Emily Whittier, Fletcher Swanson, Nate Butcher, Matt Smania and Liz Fedewa were on the winning team coached Mark Servis and Chris Bauer. 

   The second place team from Detroit Country Day, coached by Eugene Jurkiewicz, Brad McNellen and Carl Westhoff, consisted of Alex King, Alan Huang, Neil Gurram, Andrew Gulick, Salman Ahsan, Pranav Moudgil, Kevin Tan, Michael DiMattia, Aamod Dekhne, Jamie Taylor, Grace Catherine Greiner, Hannah Cheriyan, Lajari Anne, Mike Margolis and Brad Svenson.  Corrunna High School placed third in this bracket.

   The Class C/D competition, won by Kalamazoo Christian, was determined in one final match.  The Kalamazoo Christian team, coached by Kenneth Dyk and Al Nieboer, was comprised of members Levi Redmond, Matt Hesselink, Tim Zylstra, Emma Karsten, Andy Selles, Sara Nelson, Mark Stehouwer, Jonathon Meinema, Connor DeWitt, Henry Holland, Eric Cramer and James Karsten. 

   Second place went to Battle Creek St. Philip Catholic Central, coached by Joe Zuk, Kathy Grosso and Alma Thurmer, with team members Caroline Morel, Ben Niewenhuis, Libby Martin, Dave Curtis, Ryan Thurmer and Branden Harris.  The team from Sandusky High School took third.  

   The Kalamazoo Christian team qualified for the State Championship Tournament in October by winning the Whte Cloud Invitational Tournament. They then won the KVA Tournament.

   Kalamazoo Christian beat defending champion Grand Rapids City 630-290 in their opening match and went undefeated on the first day of the tournament to earn a spot in the final.

   The Comets beat St. Phillip 520-360 in the final to earn the title.

    "This entire team has worked hard since September preparing for this opportunity and deserved the chance to prove just how good they were.  The state championship is the final success in a year of successes, "said Dyk

   For the fourth time the state tournament committee selected an All State Quiz Bowl Honorary Team who were nominated by moderators and judges of the competition as the most exceptional players of the tournament.  In Class A, honors went to Brett Harrison, Detroit Catholic Central; James Priestly, Dexter; Kurtis Droge, East Lansing; Robert Burgos, Novi; and Andrew Kercher, Port Huron.

Class B All State honors were awarded to Charlie Piggot, Corunna; Alan Huang, Detroit Country Day; Mark Bogner, DeWitt; and Sam Amos, Flint Powers Catholic.

Class C/D All State honors were awarded to Sonny Gast, Bridgman; Shelby Couch, Dryden; Gaby Ruchames,Hillsdale Academy; Matt Hesselink and Jonathon Meinema, Kalamazoo Christian; Caroline Morel and Ben Niewenhuis, St. Philip Catholic Central; and Mitch Welch, White Cloud.

   All three championship teams have the chance to compete in other nationwide quiz bowl competitions.