Virginia teen really excels at Excel

When Jack Dumoulin started using Microsoft Excel in middle school to analyze the performance of his favorite professional baseball players, he still dreamed of becoming one himself. But he had no idea that his savvy with spreadsheets would take him to another field of competition: the Excel World Championship.

Dumoulin, a 17-year-old varsity baseball player at Forest Park High in Prince William County, Va., won first prize at the Excel World Championship earlier this month, besting 149 opponents from around the globe and becoming the first American to win in the competition’s 16-year history. The title came with a $7,000 check.

“It’s really special for me because I’m just glad I was able to put the U.S.A. out there as a strong, competitive nation when it comes to academics,” said Dumoulin.

The rising senior has taken classes through the information technology program at Forest Park High and has earned certifications in Power Point, Word and Excel.

The competitions are run by Certiport, the company that also administers the certification exams. They test knowledge of Excel and its features by giving participants a scenario and asking them to generate spreadsheets and crunch numbers.

Dumoulin had the top score in Virginia and won the national finals in Orlando, Fla. In late July, he traveled to Anaheim, Calif., for the world finals.

The teenager is a student of sabermetrics — the statistical study of baseball — and now dreams of working in a front office. “I always thought of that as kind of like a dream job besides being a Major League Baseball player,” Dumoulin said. “It’s more of like a reality now.”