By HHS Yearbook Staff
April 5, 2026
HAZEN, Ark. -- On April 11, 2026, the Hazen High School quiz bowl team will play at White County Central to defend their title.
The 2025 2A State champion Hazen quiz bowl team has built on last year's upward momentum in a big way, having won all 13 matches they have played this season, extending the program's win streak to 29 games. Among those victories are several against larger competition at October's Harding Invitational, where the Hornets recorded wins over Batesville, ranked #2 in the Friends of Quiz Bowl 5A coaches' poll, and a 7A Little Rock Central team, ranked #3 in the 7A poll, with a rich program history. Despite these victories and their status as the defending 2A champion, Hazen was not ranked in the top 5 among 2A teams in that Friends of Quiz Bowl poll. However, Hazen was ranked fourth in the state (regardless of classification) by fellow players and a few coaches in a midseason poll administered by an outside organization.
"We aren't worried about polls, there's no banner for being ranked high by random coaches," said team captain Michael Bowman, a junior. "Our team is confident, and we know that, being the defending state champions, we aren't the ones with anything to prove. We can just go out and play our game and we'll win." Bowman earned 2A-6 Conference MVP honors at the conference tournament on March 7 by answering 64 tossup questions over 3 matches, good for a 21.33 per-game average, which was the highest in the state for regionals weekend. He was also named NAQT Player of the Week in October for his performance at the Harding Invitational.
Bowman also expressed confidence in his teammates, despite seemingly sparing contributions on the scoreboard. "They make this game so much easier to play. Having a team that has so much confidence in me and also a group that I know really well outside of quizbowl, it just makes it very enjoyable to play with them. They also provide a lot of input that you may not see on the stat sheet but definitely impacts the game in real time."
When asked about her team's chance at a repeat, second-year head coach Stacey Bowman expressed confidence. "Based on our results from the fall and at conference, I think we have a great chance to make it back to the finals." Since Mrs. Bowman assumed the role of senior high head quiz bowl coach before the 2024-25 season, Hazen's senior high team has not lost a match.
Hazen's team members are juniors Michael Bowman, Vesper Feazell, Trever Fulmer, and Christian Hune, and freshmen Matthew Essex and Pepper Feazell. The team is coached by Stacey Bowman and Susan Booth.