"It's Academic!" team loses regional match

Blair's "It's Academic!" team lost a regional semifinal match Saturday morning.

The team, composed of junior Jared Sagoff and seniors Noah Grosfeld-Katz and Cyrus Hadadi, played against Holton Arms of Bethesda and St. Anselm's of the District of Columbia. Holton Arms won with 450 points, with St. Anselm's in second with 380 and Blair in third with 350. The winning team received $700 and advanced to the regional finals later that day; the runner-ups received $500 each.

Although Blair was ten points ahead of the other two teams going into the last round, Holton Arms got a series of 20- and 30- point questions correct in the last twenty seconds to pull far ahead.

The "It's Academic!" team won a total of $1425 in three games this year.

Blair teachers David Swaney and Phyllis Fleischaker attended the competition along with several parents and students. Amelia Sagoff and Sheila Rajasopal waved a sign that read "Go Jared the Softmore," poking fun at Jared Sagoff for accidentally identifying himself as a Blair sophomore in a previous "It's Academic!" match.

After the game, Grosfeld-Katz remained upbeat. "We had fun, it was a good run," he said. "Now we leave it to the juniors to take us all the way next year."

The show will air on Saturday, June 8th at 10:00 a.m. on channel NBC-4.