On May 9, Seven Lakes Junior High School joined 191 of the top middle school quiz bowl teams at the Hyatt Regency O'Hare Chicago for the 2026 Middle School National Championship Tournament to determine who was the best. Quiz bowl is a competitive, academic, interscholastic activity for teams of four students. Quiz bowl teams use buzzers to answer questions about science, math, history, literature, mythology, geography, social science, current events, sports, and popular culture. The matches feature a blend of individual competition and team collaboration, since no individual player is likely to be an expert in all subject areas. Participation in quiz bowl both reinforces lessons from the classroom and encourages players to develop new intellectual interests.

Seven Lakes was one of 33 Texas teams competing at the national championship. The team was captained by Angela Yang, who was joined by Paul Asfour, William Cook, and Dayne Zhou. The team was coached by John Curley and Sherry Parker. Seven Lakes finished the preliminary rounds with a 3-5 record. Seven Lakes was on the brink of elimination when they defeated Logan-Magnolia from Iowa in round seven to stay alive. Unfortunately, they lost to Creekside B from Carmel, Indiana, ending their shot at the playoffs. The tournament champion was the A team from St. Mark's School of Texas of Dallas. The 2026 Middle School National Championship Tournament's field featured 192 teams from 30 states. ABOUT NAQT National Academic Quiz Tournaments, founded in 1996, organizes the premier middle school, high school, and college quiz bowl championships in North America. In addition to its national championships, NAQT provides questions to invitational tournaments, league championships, and television shows throughout the year. NAQT operates out of the Twin Cities and Kansas City, but its members mentor coaches, host tournaments, volunteer their services, and share their expertise across the United States.