University of South Carolina’s Academic Team wins regional tournament

January 28, 2009

COLUMBIA, SC – January 28, 2009 – The Academic Team at the University of South Carolina has won the Academic Competition Federation’s winter tournament for the Southeast region. The four-member team beat teams from Florida State University, the University of Georgia, Oxford College at Emory University, the University of Alabama, Mississippi State University and The Citadel.

The members of the winning student team were Summerville’s Joseph Montoya, a senior majoring in chemical engineering and math; Myrtle Beach’s Robert Harden, a sophomore majoring in history; Alyssa Hesse of Hastings, Minn., a graduate student in linguistics; and Katie Baehler of Spearman, Texas, a junior majoring in studio art. Harden led the team in scoring and finished in second place overall. The university’s Academic Team competes in quiz tournaments throughout the Southeast and nationally, focusing on questions that stress academic content. The team’s adviser is chemistry professor Dr. Vitaly Rassolov.