BENJI at UC Berkeley (California Cup #4 3/16)

[i never see pigeons in wheeling]

The fourth and final California Cup tournament, BENJI (Berkeley's Eternally Nascent Junior Invitational), will take place on Saturday, March 16 at UC Berkeley's campus. Exact location details are pending, but registration will start around 9:30 and play will begin promptly at 10:00. This tournament will be held on Norcross High School's Blue Devil Academic Tournament (BDAT) question set, which has been well-received.

We are tentatively capping the field at 32 teams. To register for this tournament, e-mail us at californiacupquizbowl at gmail dot com. Once again, we will offer separate Junior Varsity and Varsity divisions and guarantee eight rounds to all participating teams, with prizes going to the highest scorers and top teams. We will also give trophies/plaques to top teams who have attended a sufficient number of tournaments in the California Cup series as well as top individuals. We will award the California Cup at the end to the top-performing team overall. At the end, the top 4 Varsity and top 4 JV scorers will play in an all-star game (mixed, of course). We may even hold an unofficial tryout for individuals hoping to represent California in the National All-Star Academic Tournament (NASAT) after all the team rounds have concluded, so look out for updates on that front. California has historically performed very well at NASAT, taking first place last year.

Fees:
$80 base fee
$65 base fee for new teams (as determined by the tournament director)
-$10 for middle schools
-$10 for buzzers
-$10 for staff (if needed)
-$25 for travel over 75 miles
Further discounts for shorthanded teams

Teams that have already paid the entry fee for the California Cup will be entered for free.

[njsbling]

Field Update (24):

Varsity (12):
Amador Valley (2)
Arcadia (2) [0 Buzzers]
Escobar (3) [2 Buzzers]
Foothill (1) [1 Buzzer]
Harker (1) [0 Buzzers]
Hillsdale (1) [1 Buzzer]
Mira Loma (1) [0 Buzzers]
Saratoga (1) [1 Buzzer]

JV (12):
Albany (2) [2 Buzzers]
Amador Valley (1)
Castro Valley (1) [0 Buzzers]
Challenger Berryessa (1) [1 Buzzer]
Escobar (1)
Lancer Academy (2) [0 Buzzers] [Lancer B leaving at 12:40PM]
San Jose HS (2)
Saratoga (1)
Tarquinius iii (1)

Not coming (23):
Bellarmine
Bentley
Berkeley HS
Campolindo
Crystal Springs
Davis HS
Dougherty Valley
Franklin
Insert Name Here
Los Gatos
Marin Catholic
Marin School
Menlo School
Menlo-Atherton
Mercy Burlingame
Mills
Moreau Catholic
Mountain View
Rio Americano
Sacramento Country Day School
South San Francisco
Stuart Hall
Westmoor

Waiting to hear from:
Stratford Santa Clara
San Leandro
College Prep
Lowell
Lynbrook
Archbishop Mitty
Sacred Heart
Carlmont
Sequoia
Pinewood
Notre Dame Belmont
Oak Grove
Santa Teresa
Homestead
San Mateo
Gunn
Junipero Serra
Monta Vista
Woodside
Andrew Hill
Notre Dame San Jose
Irvington

[Jason Cheng]

Arcadia has confirmed two teams for this tournament--we'll know whether the people coming as Arcadia B will be JV or Varsity by the end of this weekend.

[njsbling]

JV teams meet at 225 Dwinelle Hall at 9AM and Varsity teams meet at 118 Barrows Hall at 9AM. We'll see everyone tomorrow!

[Important Bird Area]

Congratulations to Amador Valley, which defeated Challenger-Berryessa 330-105 in the second game of an advantaged final to win the JV division of today's tournament!

Complete stats for JV are here. Varsity to follow shortly.

[Important Bird Area]

Congratulations to Arcadia A, which defeated Escobar C in the second game of an advantaged final to win the varsity division of BENJI!

Round-robin stats are here.

The final games were Arcadia A 375, Escobar C 275 and Arcadia A 385, Escobar C 320. (I don't have individual stats for these two games; if anyone from Arcadia or Escobar recorded them, please send them to me and I'll get them uploaded.)

Thanks to everyone who turned out to moderate today! Tanay and Ankit will be here soon to post the cumulative standings for all four of this year's California Cup tournaments.

[Tanay]

Tanay and Ankit will be here soon to post the cumulative standings for all four of this year's California Cup tournaments.

Escobar's top team received the inaugural California Cup, placing first in three of the four tournaments! Escobar's second team were runners-up.
In JV, newcomers Amador Valley finished first, with two wins (using two different squads) and another high placing. Escobar's top JV team was awarded for its second-place finish. Amador Valley also received an award as the "Best New Team".

In all, this year's California Cup brought high-quality competition (generally between 10 and 12 rounds per tournament) to at least 45 distinct teams, introduced good quizbowl to at least fifteen different new schools, shattered Northern California tournament attendance records multiple times (attracting as many as 32 teams when the norm last year was between 8 and 12), helped foster the growth of a circuit in Sacramento, and attracted teams from as far as Southern California and Mississippi. The best is yet to come, however. By an objective account, Northern California teams are more prepared than ever for the rigor of national-level tournaments. Next year, the California Cup series will be back, with its figurative eye once again on greater tournament attendance, an unparalleled tournament experience, and a more intense commitment to investing in the growth of this circuit and others.

None of this would have been possible without the dedication of our club's many staffers, who cumulatively volunteered countless hours to making these events run. Jeff Hoppes, Larissa Kelly, and Chris Fleitas also merit recognition for moderating and assisting the club with other logistical tasks on several occasions.

[BlueDevil95]

Congratulations to Arcadia for winning BENJI, and to Escobar for winning the California Cup! I hope everyone enjoyed the BDAT set, and I'd appreciate any feedback or commentary that you have.

Remember not to publicly discuss individuaI questions from the set, as there are still future mirrors. However, I encourage people who played or moderated or heard the set to join the BDAT II discussion group under User Control Panel - Usergroups- BDAT II discussion . Thanks!

[Corry]

On the stats, we found a possible error in Arcadia A's game against Arcadia B. The score in the stats is recorded as 365-180; however, on our own scoresheet, we recorded the score as 425-180.

A photo of our scoresheet: http://i.imgur.com/kiJM05e.jpg

[Jason Cheng]

Yeah, I can confirm this. Other than that, this was a fantastic tournament, and a great time for Arcadia A + the intrepid players (3 of them underclassmen) who wanted to come along with us. Thanks for hosting!

[Corry]

Yep, I did enjoy the tournament. I don't think I've ever been able to fit 13 rounds into a single day before-- it was lots of fun (even those last 2 gut-wrenching rounds against Escobar).