Irvine : UCI All-Star Team Wins Bowl Tourney for Trivia

A team of all-stars from UC Irvine won the regional College Bowl tournament of academic trivia in Long Beach over the weekend, qualifying the team to compete in the national finals during the spring.

It was the second consecutive regional championship for a UCI team and the third time UCI has won the title since the competition was revived in 1976.

The College Bowl competition is patterned after the College Bowl television quiz show of the 1960s, in which teams of students from universities and college competed.

Fourteen teams from California, Nevada and Hawaii competed in the regional tournament, which was held Saturday and Sunday at California State University, Long Beach.

The UCI team is composed of Tom Grant, a graduate student in political science; Richard Kolostian, a sophomore in history; Mike Ontko, a senior in mechanical engineering; Rick Richie, a junior in political science, and Mark Sugars, a graduate student in the classics.

They lost one lopsided game to the UC Berkeley team, 370 to 80, but won eight others, finally defeating UC San Diego twice in the final round, 365 to 195 and 360 to 265, to win the championship.

Along the way, the UCI team defeated California State University, Fresno, 235 to 170; Stanford University, 220 to 165; California State University, Chico, 355 to 115; UCLA, 225 to 195; the University of Hawaii, 380 to 130, and Christ College Irvine, 245 to 220.