Solanco High School's Quiz Bowl team knows how to make a debut.

Competing in the Lancaster-Lebanon Quiz Bowl League for the first time, Solanco brought home the Division II championship trophy following the league playoffs at Warwick Middle School on Feb. 3.

As one of the top four Division II teams during the regular season, Solanco was invited to the Division I playoffs. After the first round of the Division I playoffs, the top two Division II teams squared off in a separate championship with Solanco downing Lancaster Catholic 290-105. Lancaster Catholic had defeated Solanco twice during the regular season.

The Solanco team was made up of Mia Daniel-Morales, Lucy Costigan, Amitai Kauffman, Brianna Harvey, Lexi Groff, Rhiannon Groff, and Aidan Rice.

"I think we had more experience, knowing some of the questions, and the students really practiced some questions we were deficient on the first time out," said coach Caley Roark, who is a gifted education teacher at Solanco. "And a lot of it is situational depending on the questions that are asked."

Roark noted he was not surprised by the team's success. "Pretty good season," he said. "I thought we would do well considering we were in the new division (for new teams and smaller schools than Division I). I thought we would be competitive because especially Tai Kauffman and Lexi Groff are very knowledgeable about specific areas."

Amitai, a junior, was the second-highest individual scorer in the entire league, averaging 100 points per game, and won the Best and Fairest award for leadership and teamwork, based on voting by the league's coaches.

"Overall, it was a really good experience in teamwork and leadership," Amitai said. "To work with my teammates and accomplish something collectively and earn a trophy was the most important part of it for me."

Amitai was inspired by three older sisters, Ashira, Rivkah, and Aliyah. "I credit a lot of my knowledge to my family," said Amitai. "They dragged me into a lot of varied studies. ... They encouraged me to get into scholarly interests and learn about things that are useful to me."

Lexi, a senior, was another one of the team's top players. "I was a little nervous about doing this because I didn't think I was very good at trivia," Lexi said. "I'm definitely not brave enough to talk a lot, but I really enjoyed it. I started studying everything literature-related because it was so much fun."

Lexi enjoyed the experience so much that she plans to play in college. "If there's no team at the college I choose, I will start one," she said. "I'm determined."

Lexi stated that team camaraderie is crucial. "Not only are we able to pick up knowledge, I think we bonded and meshed very well," she said. "Because we were able to be friends, we worked hard because we were dedicated to each other and wanted to see each other succeed."

Roark said, "They definitely pushed each other to get better. As the season went on, they recognized each other's strengths. Lexi at the beginning of the year was identified as someone who would be good at literature. She worked really hard to get good at literature and learn everything she could. At the end of the season, if there was a literature question, nine out of 10 times she would know it. By knowing their strengths so well, they could fill in the gaps."

Quiz Bowl tests students in a variety of areas. "The questions cover all subject areas focusing on literature, science, and history, to a lesser degree arts and computational math," said Roark. "There are some questions they need to solve with pen and paper. There is some current events and pop culture thrown in, too."

Solanco did not fare well enough in the playoffs to advance in the Division I tournament, but the team has been promoted to Division I for next season because of its finish in Division II.

Solanco was 15-3 in the regular season, finished third in its division in a tournament at Penn Manor on Dec. 3, and competed on an episode of WGAL's Brain Busters, winning one of two games in a show that aired Feb. 10.