Georgia. Oh, Georgia.

Ever since last season came to a conclusion, members of the Penn Manor Quiz Bowl team have kept Georgia on their minds.

After a couple of close calls last year, a collection of quick-witted Comets will compete on the national stage in Atlanta.

Senior team captain Brady Mitchell, junior Seth Gansner, and sophomores Natalie Aungst and Eliza Myer will represent Penn Manor in the National Academic Quiz Tournaments (NAQT) High School National Championship Tournament on Saturday, May 24, and Sunday, May 25, at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and Hilton Atlanta.

Penn Manor will play 10 Quiz Bowl games in the preliminary round - seven on May 24 and three more the following morning - in a quest to qualify for the playoff bracket.

Penn Manor participated in several major tournaments this season. Teams that finish in the top 15% of the field in a big tournament automatically earn a spot in the national competition. Teams that miss that mark but have excellent cumulative results can be invited through a wild card, and that's how the Comets advanced.

"It's very difficult to get a wild card spot because they only offer a few around the country," said Penn Manor social studies teacher Chris Meier, the team's co-coach along with German and French teacher Angelika Koerner.

Meier noted that the Lancaster-Lebanon Quiz Bowl League is one of the most competitive conferences in the country. He said of the 11 teams from Pennsylvania that earned a national tourney berth, nine are within a two-hour drive from Lancaster, including Manheim Township and Cedar Crest.

Penn Manor's Quiz Bowl team had taken trips to the NAQT in 2013, 2018, and 2019. Last year, the Comets squad narrowly missed out on an invitation, coming up one correct answer short on two occasions.

On the way home from a tournament in Kutztown last spring, Meier posed a question to his team. "Do you guys have interest in nationals?" he asked. "And they said, 'Yeah, let's go to Atlanta.' They were motivated going into this year, and they did super well. We had a strong team last year, and just as strong, if not stronger, this year."

Brady echoed those sentiments. "We were very motivated this year," he said. "We really wanted to qualify for nationals, and we're very happy that we did."

Brady, who has been a member for all four years of high school, specializes in history and geography, and he noted, "I think one of the big (reasons for the team's success) is balance. There's no one on our team that dominates all of the questions. We all have different things we focus on, and we all work together well to answer a lot of questions."

Seth agreed that last year's setback was a setup for a comeback. "We were a lot more motivated this year," he said. "All of us studied more. We were more locked in, I guess."

A strong player in the fine arts; science, specifically physics; and social science, Seth said the team meets for an hour each week and spends time practicing at home.

It's a labor of love. "It's very fun," said Natalie, who excels on literature questions. "I like spending time with my friends. It's a good way to put the trivia I know to use."

Eliza, who specializes in literature and music, said, "Everything comes up. They could ask you about literally anything, so you have to have a general idea of a lot of things to be more successful. ... It's similar to 'Jeopardy!' in a way, and I grew up watching 'Jeopardy!' It's nice to do something like that, even if it's not exactly the same."

Meier added, "They are great students. ... (Quiz Bowl) is a lot of fun. We challenge them and teach them new things, like working on the buzzer. They love to learn stuff. They learn a lot in their classes, and they are sponges absorbing all the information. People who see a Quiz Bowl match for the first time are impressed by how much (the students) know and how fast they know it."

Seniors Eamon Helfrich, Riley Sampson, and Mushna Subba; juniors Arrow Helfrich, Matthew Palmeri, and Thomas Trussell; sophomores Christian Palmer and Curtis Potts; and freshmen Ashlyn Brenneman, Liam Dever, and Eden Karebu were also part of the Quiz Bowl team during the course of the season.

Penn Manor's squad - Brady, Seth, and Natalie, with Eliza as an alternate - is also having a tremendous performance in the WGAL Brain Busters competition. The Comets scored a last-second comeback win over Cedar Crest in the quarterfinals. The semifinal match vs. Lancaster Mennonite will air Saturday, May 17, at 12:30 p.m., with the winner advancing to the championship match, which is scheduled for Thursday, May 29, at 7 p.m.