The Quizbowl Resource Center

Illinois played great at PACE & NASAT. And if you are correct about returning players, it should have an excellent year next year as well.

But if you extend the radius of travel a little, we were within 3-4 hours of 7 teams that made the top bracket at PACE, and 6 more, counting ourselves, that made the 2nd bracket. Many of these teams competed at the U of Maryland, Harvard & Penn in the Fall, and at GDS' tournament in the Spring, with some traveling 2-3 hours North, others 2-4 hours South...

The 7 top bracket teams? State College, MWGS, GDS, St. Anselm's, Hunter, Whitman & Thomas Jefferson A;

The 6 2nd flight teams form PACE, counting our own team : Charter, Walter Johnson, Richard Montgomery, Quince Orchard, Thomas Jefferson B, and my own Saint Joe's.

In addtion, there were several national calibre teams from this region that did not go to PACE (I think some, if not all, went to the HSNCT); I am referring to Kellenberg, Caesar Rodney, Bergen Academies. Livingston & Seton Hall Prep.

How many of these will compete on the same level next year? Certainly State College & Hunter, both of whom are returning teams composed entirely of underclassmen; as for the rest, I do not know. But from Northern Virginia to Pennsy & New York, there were a great number of outstanding teams this year, as the lists above indicate.

Edward Powers wrote:It's hard to imagine Charter not being able to travel. It's only one year removed from double National Championships. Very very puzzling!!!

mastaloo wrote:

Edward Powers wrote:It's hard to imagine Charter not being able to travel. It's only one year removed from double National Championships. Very very puzzling!!!

Not when the principial is bent on denying the team funds. Apparently, academic teams will only get funding for in-state ventures, which doesn't amount to much. I understand we're going through difficult economic times, but winning ventures should be funded, while losing ones shouldn't (like our football team, which is perenially 1-9). But we couldn't dare tamper with precious sports.

mastaloo wrote:

Edward Powers wrote:It's hard to imagine Charter not being able to travel. It's only one year removed from double National Championships. Very very puzzling!!!

Not when the principial is bent on denying the team funds. Apparently, academic teams will only get funding for in-state ventures, which doesn't amount to much. I understand we're going through difficult economic times, but winning ventures should be funded, while losing ones shouldn't (like our football team, which is perenially 1-9). But we couldn't dare tamper with precious sports.

wexs883198215 wrote:We are hunting for dedicated new players, but don't even have bodies to drag to tournaments right now.

Carangoides ciliarius wrote:

wexs883198215 wrote:We are hunting for dedicated new players, but don't even have bodies to drag to tournaments right now.

Why is that, exactly? You two are nice guys, you have a good coach, your school is academically-oriented (and in Newsweek's Top 100!)... you should be able to find a few other smart guys around who find quizbowl fun.

Carangoides ciliarius wrote:

mastaloo wrote:

Edward Powers wrote:It's hard to imagine Charter not being able to travel. It's only one year removed from double National Championships. Very very puzzling!!!

Not when the principial is bent on denying the team funds. Apparently, academic teams will only get funding for in-state ventures, which doesn't amount to much. I understand we're going through difficult economic times, but winning ventures should be funded, while losing ones shouldn't (like our football team, which is perenially 1-9). But we couldn't dare tamper with precious sports.

Alex, our school has never given us a dime for any trip... aside from about $1500 last year for Nationals and about $600 this year for Nationals. If you subtract my stipend, we literally do get nothing from the school and we make it just fine. Considering other schools/student bodies of other schools are on the average wealthier than the kids at CR, a lack of school funding should not stop a team from going to plenty of tournaments.

Wurzel-Flummery wrote: It seems like, though, that their will be a significant dropoff around here (and by that I mean DC metro+VA+Delaware) . Whitman and Blake won't be nearly as competitive, and may drop off entirely. CR, GDS, and QO will likely have varying degrees of diminishment (GDS will be good, but will they be AS good? We'll see), and Gonzaga is showing no sign of returning to its former glory of the Gioia/Puma era. I think that the region won't be as deep as it was this year or years past.

Self-incompatibility in plants wrote:

Wurzel-Flummery wrote: It seems like, though, that their will be a significant dropoff around here (and by that I mean DC metro+VA+Delaware) . Whitman and Blake won't be nearly as competitive, and may drop off entirely. CR, GDS, and QO will likely have varying degrees of diminishment (GDS will be good, but will they be AS good? We'll see), and Gonzaga is showing no sign of returning to its former glory of the Gioia/Puma era. I think that the region won't be as deep as it was this year or years past.

Idk, I think the area will be better off than expected. I predict TJ will easily be a top 10 team. St. Anselm's, WJ, and RM will all likely be top 20 teams (if not better). Gov might even be top 5 again with JR and Tommy (if Tommy sticks with HS tournaments). After those teams, we have wild cards like GDS, CR, Blair, QO and Charter that could get really good, really fast. Will we have 3-4 top 5ish teams like we did this year? No. But the region will still have loads of skill and deep talent.

Carangoides ciliarius wrote:

mastaloo wrote:

Edward Powers wrote:It's hard to imagine Charter not being able to travel. It's only one year removed from double National Championships. Very very puzzling!!!

Not when the principial is bent on denying the team funds. Apparently, academic teams will only get funding for in-state ventures, which doesn't amount to much. I understand we're going through difficult economic times, but winning ventures should be funded, while losing ones shouldn't (like our football team, which is perenially 1-9). But we couldn't dare tamper with precious sports.

Alex, our school has never given us a dime for any trip... aside from about $1500 last year for Nationals and about $600 this year for Nationals. If you subtract my stipend, we literally do get nothing from the school and we make it just fine. Considering other schools/student bodies of other schools are on the average wealthier than the kids at CR, a lack of school funding should not stop a team from going to plenty of tournaments.

Wurzel-Flummery wrote:

Carangoides ciliarius wrote:

wexs883198215 wrote:We are hunting for dedicated new players, but don't even have bodies to drag to tournaments right now.

Why is that, exactly? You two are nice guys, you have a good coach, your school is academically-oriented (and in Newsweek's Top 100!)... you should be able to find a few other smart guys around who find quizbowl fun.

I went to a middle school that feeds into WJ for two years, and from what it appears the social atmosphere is one that leads those of academic competitive prowess to be ostracized (correct me if I'm wrong, maybe it was just my middle school).

wexs883198215 wrote:That's definitely part of it. Lots of kids just kind of don't really want to spend the time to get good and stop coming to practice. Also, some academically competitive clubs are just somehow more popular. Our debate and forensics teams are extremely strong and steal a lot of kids.

Self-incompatibility in plants wrote:

Wurzel-Flummery wrote: It seems like, though, that their will be a significant dropoff around here (and by that I mean DC metro+VA+Delaware) . Whitman and Blake won't be nearly as competitive, and may drop off entirely. CR, GDS, and QO will likely have varying degrees of diminishment (GDS will be good, but will they be AS good? We'll see), and Gonzaga is showing no sign of returning to its former glory of the Gioia/Puma era. I think that the region won't be as deep as it was this year or years past.

Idk, I think the area will be better off than expected. I predict TJ will easily be a top 10 team. St. Anselm's, WJ, and RM will all likely be top 20 teams (if not better). Gov might even be top 5 again with JR and Tommy (if Tommy sticks with HS tournaments). After those teams, we have wild cards like GDS, CR, Blair, QO and Charter that could get really good, really fast. Will we have 3-4 top 5ish teams like we did this year? No. But the region will still have loads of skill and deep talent.