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Loyola Ultima XVI - 1/18/2014 (Wilmette, IL)

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 1:26 pm
by mlaird
Greetings Coaches!

Loyola Academy in Wilmette, IL will be hosting the sixteenth annual Loyola Ultima on January 18, 2014. As it was for the past two years, this year's tournament will be run on a mirror of the LIST set produced by Ladue Horton Watkins High School. It is an extremely accessible set and has been widely lauded by teams from all over the country.

If you wish to attend, please sign up through this form: http://goo.gl/dxs6Tl

The tournament will consist of at least nine (probably ten) guaranteed rounds for every team at the tournament. This means that teams will get to play every round, and everyone will have a chance to play teams of equal skill levels in the afternoon rounds. We will split into two divisions as we have in the past, a Highly Competitive Division and a Standard Division. The field cap will again be at 36 total teams due to staffing limitations.

A and B teams will be admitted to the field first, but please do indicate your interest if you want more teams. We will place them on a standby list and if the field is not full after the new year, we will admit them to the field. This is a four-on-four tournament.

As always, lunch will be included in the cost of the tournament. We will cater Lou Malnati's pizza for all teams and staffers.

The cost to teams will be $80 (prior to discounts) per team.

Discounts:
-$5 per working buzzer system
-$10 per experienced staffer
-$20 for travelling greater than 100 mi. (this discount is applied once per team, not once per school)
If you have extenuating circumstances of any kind, email me and we can work something out.

Once again, please use this form (http://goo.gl/dxs6Tl) if you would like to join the field!

If you know of any moderators that we can contact, we are currently looking for a few more to add to our corps. Please feel free to forward this email to them, or send me their email address and I will get in touch with them.

We will also be hosting a tossup-only pop culture tournament following the conclusion of the tournament. For details on that, please click here.

We hope to see you in January!

Mathew J. Laird '04
English Teacher / Scholastic Bowl Coach
Loyola Academy
(847) 920-2638

Re: Loyola Ultima XVI - 1/18/2014 (Wilmette, IL)

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 1:29 pm
by mlaird
Field as of 1/10/14:

Highly Competitive Division (12/12):
Latin School A
Fenton A
Culver Academies (IN) A
Carbondale A
Stevenson A
St. Joseph (IN) A
IMSA A
Metea Valley A
IMSA B
Auburn A
Auburn B
Loyola A

Standard Division (24/24):
Buffalo Grove A
Buffalo Grove B
Buffalo Grove C
Maine South A
Maine South B
Latin School B
Latin School C
Fenton B
Culver Academies (IN) B
Culver Academies (IN) C
St. Joseph (IN) B
Keith Country Day
Lyons Township
Metea Valley B
Fenwick A
Fenwick B
Fenwick C
Fenwick D
Wheaton Warrenville South A
Wheaton Warrenville South B
Zion-Benton
Stillman Valley
Loyola B
Loyola C

Reserve:

Re: Loyola Ultima XVI - 1/18/2014 (Wilmette, IL)

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 11:15 am
by mlaird
If you are interested in staffing, please get in touch with me. You will get Lou Malnati's pizza for lunch, and you will also get a handsome remuneration from the Loyola coffers.

Re: Loyola Ultima XVI - 1/18/2014 (Wilmette, IL)

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 11:19 am
by Dominator
You may as well add IMSAs A and B. IMSA A should be in highly competitive, IMSA B can be wherever you'd rather put them. I'll send the official forms after I'm done with final exams.

Re: Loyola Ultima XVI - 1/18/2014 (Wilmette, IL)

Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2013 11:28 am
by mlaird
Dominator wrote:You may as well add IMSAs A and B. IMSA A should be in highly competitive, IMSA B can be wherever you'd rather put them. I'll send the official forms after I'm done with final exams.
Depends on who is on IMSA B, in looking at the stats from past tournaments. Let me know where you would like to put them, but I put them in Highly Competitive for now.

Re: Loyola Ultima XVI - 1/18/2014 (Wilmette, IL)

Posted: Tue Jan 07, 2014 10:38 pm
by mlaird
A few housekeeping issues:

I have allowed two C teams into the field. I am hoping that I can get a few more teams and then have 16 and 24 in each division. I might be emailing a few coaches and asking them to move up a division.

I'm still looking for some moderators for this event. Please email me if you want to make money and eat pizza.

We will again be hosting Bob Kilner's trash set after Ultima to benefit Matt's Buzzers. This event is open to anyone, not just students. Coaches, siblings, moderators, parents, and family pets are all eligible to play. The cost will be $5 per player, and we will form teams of four or five depending on interest. I will ask you to please sign up for this event before lunchtime on Saturday, so that we can have some idea of the number of teams planning on sticking around. If you want to moderate for this event, please let me know. We will probably need about 5-6 moderators. Click here for more details about this event.

Re: Loyola Ultima XVI - 1/18/2014 (Wilmette, IL)

Posted: Fri Jan 10, 2014 5:09 pm
by mlaird
The field is officially closed for Ultima! We will have a full round-robin for the Highly Competitive Division, and 4 brackets of 6 in the morning for the Standard Division. That division will rebracket for the afternoon into 4 more brackets of 6 based on morning record, then PPB. Full rules and tie-breaking procedures will be provided at the tournament.

Reminder: Start drumming up some interest in the pop culture tournament after Ultima!

Re: Loyola Ultima XVI - 1/18/2014 (Wilmette, IL)

Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:07 pm
by mlaird
Here is the email that I sent out to coaches a minute ago:

Things are gearing up for the tournament this weekend, folks!

First and foremost, our field is completely full. If you anticipate that you are going to be shorthanded or not able to play a team that you had previously committed to, please let me know ASAP, so that I can change the schedule. We have extra teams, so it will be ok if you have to drop one.

Second, Loyola is hosting the 3rd Annual Sir Dupre Memorial Charity Pop Culture Tournament following the conclusion of Ultima. The tournament is a tossup-only pop culture tournament with teams of four. All proceeds will go to Matt's Buzzers (http://www.mattsbuzzers.com/). The tournament is open to anyone and everyone, including students, coaches, parents, siblings, and family pets. If you would like to stay for this event, please send me an email expressing your interest, or sign up at the tournament on Saturday. We should finish this event by 8pm.

Some reminders for Ultima proper:

Please arrive at Loyola (1100 Laramie Ave. Wilmette, IL 60091) by 8:30am. We will have a morning meeting in the Theater, and hope to start matches at 9am. Please call me and let me know if you are running late [(773) 680-0364]. The tournament should be completed sometime around 3:30-4pm.

All teams will be provided lunch catered by Lou Malnati's. Please let me know if there are any dietary concerns. There will be vegetarian options available, but if you need lactose-free, gluten-free, vegan, or other options, please let me know.

Teams are made up of 4 players. A maximum of seven players may be listed on each team roster.

Each team in the Highly Competitive Division will play eleven (11) rounds of quizbowl, plus finals if necessary. Each team in the Standard Division will play ten (10) rounds of quizbowl, plus finals if necessary. If your team does not intend to stay for all of their matches, please consider withdrawing your team from the field, since your non-participation will mean that other teams will be denied the opportunity to play as well.

Please bring your buzzer system(s) if you indicated that you would do so.

Checks can be made out to Loyola Academy and sent Attn: Matt Laird. Please let me know if you need an invoice.

Please check over this and make sure that you are listed for the right number of teams:

SEE FIELD POSTED ABOVE

Please let me know if you have any other questions at all!

Mathew J. Laird '04
English Teacher / Scholastic Bowl Coach
Loyola Academy
(847) 920-2638

Re: Loyola Ultima XVI - 1/18/2014 (Wilmette, IL)

Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 1:13 pm
by mlaird
Stats will be updated as live as possible for both divisions here: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/2073/

Re: Loyola Ultima XVI - 1/18/2014 (Wilmette, IL)

Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2014 3:26 pm
by AKKOLADE
No one is going undefeated on top.

Re: Loyola Ultima XVI - 1/18/2014 (Wilmette, IL)

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:44 am
by mlaird
Congratulations to IMSA A and Buffalo Grove A, the winners of the Highly Competitive and Standard Divisions, respectively! In the Highly Competitive Division, Stevenson took second and St. Joseph (IN) took third. In the Standard Division, Wheaton Warrenville South took second and Loyola B took third.

Since this was a Platinum-Certified tournament, the top 25% of the field in the Highly Competitive Division has qualified for PACE NSC in Washington, DC. For more information on that, you can visit http://www.pace-nsc.org/.

Statistics for all divisions can be found here: http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/2073/

Thanks to all the staffers who came out to make this possible. Without you guys, this tournament would likely have run past dinnertime.

At the Sir Dupre Memorial Pop Culture Tournament that was held after Ultima proper, nine teams, made up of more than forty individuals, participated and had a whole lot of fun. Between the entry fees and optional donations, we raised over $400 for Matt's Buzzers! Great work, guys!

I've attached the question set that was used yesterday, but please refrain from sharing this set electronically with your students, and from talking publicly about questions and answers. This set will be used at future tournaments elsewhere in the country.

Lastly, I would like to address an issue that arose in the Highly Competitive Division yesterday. After round 8, I was made aware of some irregularities in the scoring of Auburn B. I investigated the issue during round 9 and confirmed that something did indeed seem to be amiss. As some of you may have noticed if you were moderating, I then switched out the packet that would have been used for round 10 (packet 10) for packet 14 instead. I also shuffled around some moderators so that the moderator who brought this to my attention would be able to keep track of what happened with Auburn B's match. When one player began incorrectly answering early with answers from packet 10, we brought the issue to the attention of Auburn's coach, and then eventually confronted the player. That player confessed to accessing the questions from a moderator's laptop that had been left behind in a game room during the lunch break. The player was removed from further play and all of Auburn B's afternoon matches were forfeited.

I am confident that this was an isolated issue and that only one player was involved in the cheating. Further disciplinary action will be done internally within Auburn's program. I take some of the blame for this, because I did not set up a system to password-protect the packets before the tournament started. I apologize to all teams in attendance for allowing this to happen, and I can promise you that all future Loyola tournaments will pay special attention to taking proper security measures. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about this unfortunate incident.

Re: Loyola Ultima XVI - 1/18/2014 (Wilmette, IL)

Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2014 3:43 am
by Urech hydantoin synthesis
Congratulations to both teams; hopefully everyone enjoyed the set! Please remember not to publicly discuss any specifics, as there are still other mirrors in the future. A private discussion forum has been set up; to join it, go to this page in the user control panel, select "LIST 2014 Dicussion", and submit your request to join the selected group.

Re: Loyola Ultima XVI - 1/18/2014 (Wilmette, IL)

Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2014 10:57 pm
by jonah
mlaird wrote:Lastly, I would like to address an issue that arose in the Highly Competitive Division yesterday. After round 8, I was made aware of some irregularities in the scoring of Auburn B. I investigated the issue during round 9 and confirmed that something did indeed seem to be amiss. As some of you may have noticed if you were moderating, I then switched out the packet that would have been used for round 10 (packet 10) for packet 14 instead. I also shuffled around some moderators so that the moderator who brought this to my attention would be able to keep track of what happened with Auburn B's match. When one player began incorrectly answering early with answers from packet 10, we brought the issue to the attention of Auburn's coach, and then eventually confronted the player. That player confessed to accessing the questions from a moderator's laptop that had been left behind in a game room during the lunch break. The player was removed from further play and all of Auburn B's afternoon matches were forfeited.

I am confident that this was an isolated issue and that only one player was involved in the cheating. Further disciplinary action will be done internally within Auburn's program. I take some of the blame for this, because I did not set up a system to password-protect the packets before the tournament started. I apologize to all teams in attendance for allowing this to happen, and I can promise you that all future Loyola tournaments will pay special attention to taking proper security measures. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about this unfortunate incident.
I was under the impression that the cheater had been permanently banned from the Auburn team, as rightly he should have been. Yesterday he competed for Auburn at Scobol Solo. Can someone from Auburn address why this is being permitted?

If Auburn continues to find it appropriate to allow this player to represent them, I hope tournament directors will exercise better judgment when determining whether to allow a known cheater to play at their events.