On May 9, Seven Lakes Junior High School and Beckendorff 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.

Beckendorff Junior High School sent two teams to the 2026 MSNCT. The A team was captained by Nicholas Duan, who was joined by John Birkholz, Janak Kulkarni, and Arnav Vijay. The B team was captained by Patrick Huang, who was joined by Olumuyiwa Ayeni, Franklin Cao, Aarav Dutta, and Michael Liu. The teams were coached by Cassidy Bennett. Beckendorff entered two of the 33 Texas teams competing at the national championship. Beckendorff A began the preliminary rounds with a four-game winning streak, in which they defeated Redwood B (CA) from Saratoga, California; Middlesex C from Darien, Connecticut; Challenger-Strawberry Park from San Jose, California; and Cooper A from McLean, Virginia. They finished the preliminary rounds with a 6-2 record, which qualified them for the playoffs. Beckendorff B finished the preliminary rounds with a 3-5 record. The A team played Annunciation Orthodox A from near home in round 10, defeating them 415-340. There were some tense moments. The A team suffered a heartbreakingly narrow loss to the defending champions, Smith A from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 375-370 during round seven. Beckendorff A was on the brink of elimination when they defeated Creekside A from Carmel, Indiana, in round 17 to stay alive. Unfortunately, they lost to BASIS Silicon Valley from San Jose, California, ending their shot at the title. Beckendorff B spent three games on the brink of elimination. They defeated St. Louis Park A from Minnesota and St. Rita A before falling to Emerson A from Ann Arbor, Michigan, ending their shot at the playoffs.

The A team finished in 21st place.

Seven Lakes Junior High School was also 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.