On December 16, Livingston High School’s “A” Academic Team competed at the annual Garden State Cup championships. Having won last year’s edition, the team defended its title this school year in a field of a record 66 teams from the greater NJ/ NY/CT/DE metropolitan area.
The LHS “A” team is now currently ranked #6 in the nation and #1 in the Northeast (the “B” team is ranked #101).
“This represents our highest National ranking in my 25 years as coach,” said LHS Academic Team coach, Guy Rabner.
“A” Team Captain Robert Wang (junior), Sophia Wu (senior), Kevin Zhang (junior) and Lelun Li (junior) went undefeated, 10-0, on the day. Livingston defeated Hunter College High School’s “A” Team in the final by an impressive score of 570-165, dominating the match from the start. This marked Livingston’s second consecutive finals victory over Hunter College High School, having defeated them in the Princeton University finals in September.
For the first time ever, this year’s tournament was hosted on site at LHS, and the high school sent a record ten teams. Heritage Middle School also sent two additional teams.
Livingston also provided several helpers and volunteer moderators, including Board of Education vice president Pam Chirls.
In addition to the “A” team, Livingston’s “B” team finished in third place overall after the preliminaries, and the “C” team earned a top 16 finish. Several other Livingston teams also finished highly.
“It was a truly spectacular display of knowledge by dozens of Livingston students, displaying the depth and breadth learned by our students, and a testament to the quality of education learned by the students and dedication the students have to learning,” Rabner said .
The academic team will compete at the National Tournament in May and June.
LPS Photo
