Southampton progresses to round two of University Challenge
Students at University of Southampton have qualified for round two of BBC2’s University Challenge after defeating Queen Mary University of London by 235 to 120.
Led once again by team captain Tricia Goggin, a Biomedical Engineering PhD researcher , Southampton’s victory now places them amongst the final 16 teams in this year’s competition. Tricia is joined by William Cable, studying an MA in History, Rowland Sadler, Third Year Biological Sciences student, and Sarah Stock, a Third Year Chemistry student.
Tricia expressed the team’s delight at progressing through the play-off against Queen Mary after Southampton lost its opening match but qualified to continue in the competition as one of the highest scoring losers. The team’s 235 points versus Queen Mary is the fourth highest score recorded to date in this year’s competition.
Team Captain, Tricia, said: “We did lots of practice in the weeks leading up to it, although it’s hard to predict what the questions will be like. It was all filmed at the studios in Manchester and it was a great experience being backstage and seeing how it is all put together. We were all nervous at first but Jeremy and the team were good at putting us at ease. Once the famous music starts and it all gets going you forget about the cameras and enjoy the game.”
No details have been announced for Southampton’s next appearance on BBC2 but the team is busy this week recruiting their successors as University Challenge representatives for 2016-17 .