Shenandoah Athletic Training Students Place Third In National Competition
Trio earned SU’s third straight top-three finish in NATA Student Quiz Bowl
Students in Shenandoah University’s athletic training program continued to prove they’re among the country’s brightest during recent trips to regional and national athletic training symposiums.
Shenandoah’s Aesia Garban ’27, Trilby Kite ’27 and Kristen Meinberg ’26 defended the Hornets’ Student Quiz Bowl title at the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Athletic Trainers’ Association’s annual meeting on May 1, marking the third year in a row that Shenandoah has won the competition and earned the right to represent District 3 on the national stage.
At the National Athletic Trainers’ Association (NATA) Clinical Symposia and Athletic Training Expo on July 1, Garban, Kite and Meinberg placed third out of 11 teams in the quiz bowl competition, giving Shenandoah University three consecutive top-three finishes at the national level.
In January, Garban, Kite and Makenna Thrush ’26 teamed up to give Shenandoah its fourth straight Virginia Athletic Trainers’ Association Student Quiz Bowl title and a spot in the MAATA competition.
At the state, district and national levels, the Student Quiz Bowl is a “Jeopardy”-style competition that primarily tests athletic training students’ clinical knowledge, and the winning team at each level advances to the next round. The NATA competition features 11 teams representing each of the country’s 11 districts.
The MAATA Student Quiz Bowl, which took place during the MAATA annual meeting in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, featured teams from the five states – Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina – that make up District 3.
District 1, represented by New England’s Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association, earned the victory at the national competition, which took place during the 77th NATA Clinical Symposia and AT Expo in Philadelphia.
