2015 NAQT Illinois State (2/14/2015; Urbana, IL)

[Captain Sinico]

ANNOUNCEMENT

I’m very pleased to announce that the NAQT Illinois State Championship will take place on Saturday, February 14, 2015 on the campus of the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. This event is jointly hosted by the University of Illinois Academic Buzzer Team and the IHSSBCA. I have the honor of directing this tournament once again.

As with the previous 5 iterations, this year's NAQT Illinois State Championship will be the best venue of competition for Illinois’ very best teams. We award prestigious state titles (both an overall and Small School title,) as well as bids for both national title competitions, NAQT HSNCT, and PACE NSC, and we are happy to invite any excellent team, regardless of where they happen to be from. You can thus expect the highest level of competition, and commensurate moderation, facilities, and questions from this event, which will also serve as the greatest preparation for other state and national championships.

QUALIFICATION & REGISTRATION

To register for the Illinois NAQT State Championship, your team must qualify by finishing in the top 25% at a varsity event (tournament, conference, or league;) or in the top 10% at an event with a restricted field, like a turnabout tournament (freshman/sophomore-only events are not qualifiers.) If all of the otherwise-qualifying teams from an event were Large Schools by NAQT's definition, then the highest-finishing team from a Small School also qualifies, so long as they finished in the top half of the tournament.

Schools may register as many teams as they have distinctly qualified, two teams from a school being distinct if and only if they share no players.

The field is tentatively capped at 32 teams. I am aggressively looking to expand this, but need to get more staffers. Qualified registrants will be entered on a first come, first served basis, but as I am able to expand the field, I will reserve the right to admit standby teams in the order that I think best for the tournament. So, please register as soon as you can!

Mike Wong of the IHSSBCA is doing the service of verifying and contacting qualified teams, for which I thank him profusely. If you qualify, including if you have received notification from IHSSBCA, you may proceed to register by clicking here. Just like for Kickoff this year, we're using the NAQT registration system, so you'll need an NAQT account (which is free and easy to make.)

If you have questions about qualification, or especially if you think you qualify but have not been contacted, please e-mail us right away. If you want to register, either as a qualifier or for a wildcard bid, please head over to NAQT's site right away and do so.

TOURNAMENT QUESTIONS, RULES & FORMAT

The NAQT Illinois State Championship will be played on NAQT's 2015 Division II SCT set. Compared to an IS set, this is somewhat harder, contains more rounds, and will have no computation questions (like HSNCT,) but is otherwise substantially similar.

This tournament will be played under NAQT rules, including timed play.

The format of the NAQT Illinois State Championship will depend on the field size, so I will announce it nearer the event. I plan to use a seeded, record-matching card system (a la HSNCT,) with re-bracketed playoffs. If at all possible, meaningful record ties will be played off rather than broken statistically.

LOCATION & TRAVEL

The NAQT Illinois State Championship will take place at David Kinley Hall at the University of Illinois. Free weekend parking is available nearby in Lot E3 and several other places nearby. If you have any travel questions, including requests for directions to the tournament via public transit, please contact us.

DISCOUNTS & FEES

The registration fee for the NAQT Illinois State Championship is $75 for the first team and $65 for each subsequent team. A $5 discount is available for each working buzzer system. A $10 discount is available for each qualified reader who is able to read for the whole tournament (to be clear: we'll also pay any staffers brought by teams - the discount is for teams helping us to locate staffers and bringing them to the tournament.) Obviously, our tournament can’t happen without working buzzer systems or able staff, so please bring as many as you can!

Checks for registration fees should be made out to the IHSSBCA. If you wish to pay in advance, you can remit a check to:
Mike Sorice
Centennial High School
913 S. Crescent Dr.
Champaign, IL 61821-3435.
Otherwise, payment is due at the start of the tournament. You'll receive an invoice by e-mail after you register.

CALL FOR STAFF

The NAQT Illinois State Championship can’t happen without staff! Fortunately, our state has a large, able and supportive corps of tournament staffers. If you are one of them, please register to help at this tournament as soon as you can. Staffers will receive monetary compensation ($50 for a qualified, full time moderator!) as well as food. I may also be able to assist with travel and even lodging if those are necessary for you. If you have any questions or want to sign up to staff, please contact us.

MORE INFORMATION

You can post any questions not otherwise addressed here: I'll check this thread and reply daily. You can also contact us by e-mail. Please check this thread for general updates, and check your e-mail for items specific to you. You can see the field from NAQT's site.

SUMMARY & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

NAQT Illinois State Championship 2/14 is at University of Illinois. Register your team(s) here. Register to staff here. Post questions, or e-mail us with them.

Thanks again to Michael Wong for handling qualification - that's a tough and usually thankless job! Thanks to Andrew Wang (the Younger) the the Illinois ABT for getting us space. More to follow!

[Captain Sinico]

It looks like we had a hiccup in the wildcard bid submission process - if you were trying to do that and couldn't, please try again.

Also, though I addressed this above, I'll reiterate as some people missed it. If you want to pay for the tournament in advance, you can remit payment payable to the IHSSBCA to me at:
Michael Sorice
Champaign Centennial High School
913 Crescent Drive
Champaign, Illinois 61821-3435.

You can also pay at the tournament. If you can't pay before or at the tournament, please talk to me to make arrangements.

Finally, as a general point, to get help with almost anything about this tournament, please send e-mail to us at [email protected], and not to anyone at NAQT. While NAQT is generously providing our questions, rules, registration site, and organizational help, they're not processing our payments or qualifying teams! However, do contact NAQT if you need help with the registration website, if you want to buy some practice questions or host a future tournament, or if you want to comment on the job we're doing as hosts ("That darned Mike Sorice..." etc.)

(EDIT: Removed link to broken wildcard bid submission page; as Jeff notes below, please e-mail us for wildcard requests.)

[Important Bird Area]

It looks like we had a hiccup in the wildcard bid submission process - if you were trying to do that and couldn't, please try again.

This is probably broken and likely to stay broken for the immediate future. Teams interested in a wildcard bid to this tournament should email [email protected].

[Captain Sinico]

If you need a hotel room, we've got a reserved block at the Comfort Suites in Urbana (2001 N. Lincoln Ave, Urbana.) To reserve one, call (217) 328-3500 and mention Scholastic Bowl. Obviously, you're under no obligation to reserve a room if you're coming - these are just for your convenience.

I'll have more updates shortly, so check back later!

[Captain Sinico]

Hi again everyone,

Well, we're a little over a week before the start of the tournament, so let me update you all. First, I'm happy to announce that our tournament is PACE Gold Certified, which means that we qualify additional teams for the PACE NSC. Qualifying teams will be contacted by NAQT and PACE shortly after the event.

Now, let's dispense with some logistics. Just like last year, you can register your team starting at 8:30 outside room 114 David Kinley Hall - you'll receive your schedule and information about what to do about your buzzer systems (if any) at that time. If you haven't paid in advance, you'll also receive an invoice and should make payment.

Inside room 114, we'll have a brief meeting for players and coaches at 9:00, and then games will commence by 9:30. Your team should thus plan to be at the tournament by 9:00, at latest. If you don't get in touch with us by 9:30, your team will begin forfeiting games.

We'll break for lunch around noon, after a scheduled number of rounds. Play should wrap up for most teams around 4:30. Finals and awards should conclude about 5:30, and will also take place in room 114.

Regarding transportation, DKH is near Sixth and Gregory in Urbana. Click here for Google Maps directions. If those don't get you there, please contact us for help, including if you need help getting to the tournament via public transit.

If you're driving, DKH touches two large parking lots, E2 & E3, where you can park at any metered spot - those are free to the public on weekends. E2 has an inner area with a sign indicating no public parking on weekends. Per the University Parking Department, you may park there, too. A limited number of spots do not have meters, but rather signs indicating they are rented 24/7. Please do not park in those spots!

Finally, registered teams will receive an invoice from me tonight, and I'll also contact staffers either tonight or early tomorrow. If you are a team contact or staffer and don't receive an e-mail from me by Sunday, please contact us right away as something may be wrong.

Thanks and see you in a week!
M

[Captain Sinico]

A quick update: with 36 teams, we'll use a format beginning with 6 pools of 6 teams, who will play a round-robin and then be rebracketed. More details & a schedule later.

According to my research, the following schools are eligible for the Small School championship:
Greenville
Litchfield
Macomb
Piasa Southwestern
Riverton
Sullivan
Warrensburg-Latham

If you feel that's in error, please let me know right away.

Thanks and see you Saturday,

[Captain Sinico]

Click here to download a (rather exhaustive) description of the format, and full schedule for tomorrow's games.

See you in the morning,

[mhasquin]

Thanks for all your hard work. We're looking forward to having a good time tomorrow...

[no ice]

Will the rounds be of 9-minute or 10-minute halves?

[Captain Sinico]

10 minutes. (I thought I'd said that, but it was only to staff. Oops!)

[Minsker]

Coach Sorice, your flyer said we could follow progress online at this URL bit I cannot find anything. Can you post an update or tell me where to find one?

Thanks!

[alexdz]

Just wanted to express publicly how impressed I was with this tournament. As an out-of-stater, I wasn't sure what to expect, but all the staff and teams were very welcoming and friendly. The tournament ran so well, I am very impressed. Lots of great tips to bring back to Missouri!

Thanks so much, all!

[Captain Sinico]

Hey, sorry for the delay in updating stuff online! Full stats are posted to the tournament DB page courtesy of Donald Taylor. (Unfortunately, we didn't get any posted during the tournament - sorry about that, Mrs. M! It would have worked if we'd been more fastidious.)

Brief results:
Auburn A defeated Hinsdale Central in a one-game final to win the overall championship, Hinsdale having first beaten IMSA to break a three-way tie for first.

Macomb A defeated Southwestern for the Small School Championship.

Much more tomorrow,

[dtaylor4]

Major props to Mike, as well as the rest of the crew who worked behind the scenes to make sure the tournament ran smoothly despite a number of snafus that could have FUBAR'd the tournament.

I only saw the final scoresheets, but I was definitely impressed with the level of play across the board, especially given the use of a harder set.

[Captain Sinico]

This Saturday, I had the pleasure of directing the 2015 NAQT Illinois State Championship at the University of Illinois. Congratulations to our State Champions for 2015, Auburn High School A of Rockford (Mohammad Nizamuddin, Evan Pandya, Cole Timmerwilke, Steven Vo - Coach Linda Greene!) They defeated an outstanding field of 36 teams to become the first holders of the Egan Memorial Trophy, a beautiful traveling cup donated by Tom Egan and family in loving memory of Tom's parents.

Second overall was Hinsdale Central High School (Ankush Bajaj, B.J. Ryan, Sunny Chen, James Zhou - Coach Alan McCloud) and third was Illinois Math & Science Academy of Aurora (Waleed Ali, Andrew Salij, Pranav Sivakumar, Nathaniel Smith - Coach Noah Prince.) Auburn, Hinsdale Central, and IMSA finished the regular rounds tied at 10-1 (having losses to each other and nobody else.) Ergo, they were seeded based on points per bonus heard (PPB) through the 11 rounds so far, with the results that Hinsdale (22.73 PPB) played and edged out IMSA (22.63 PPB) for the right to play Auburn A (23.73 PPB,) who won in dominant fashion.

The Small School title went to Macomb Senior High School A (Will Bordowitz, Micah Flores, Gabrielle Torrance, Jared Rhoads, Zach Sutton, Theodore Li, Lucas Williams - Coach Suellyn Rieckelman) who finished regular rounds 6-4 and defeated likewise-6-4 Southwestern High School of Piasa (Darby Jones, Kaeden Kessinger, Jacob Simmons, Brandon Thomas - Coach Matt Hasquin) in a 1-game finals.

The All-Tournament Team, based on points per tossup heard (P/TU) through 5 rounds, with at least 10 tossups heard per team game (TUH/G) was:
Adam Fine of University of Chicago Laboratory School (6.19 P/TU,) Alston Boyd of Bloomington High School A (5.19 P/TU,) Matthew Lehman (5 P/TU,) Evan Pandya of Auburn A (4.67 P/TU,) Andrew Salij of IMSA (4.62 P/TU,) Michael Gislason of Homewood-Flossmoor High School A (4.62 P/TU,) Jack Skalitzky of St. Ignatius College Prep (4 P/TU,) and Mahir Morshed of Carbondale Community High School (3.62 P/TU.)

Honorable mention goes to Sofia Carrillo of University Laboratory High School, who put up 6.67 P/TU, but only heard 3 TU and thus did not qualify.

Full results are available from the tournament QBDB page. Corrections (misspelled names, individual scoring, etc.) may be addressed by e-mail. If you want to follow understand the schedule, I've made it publicly viewable.

I'd like to offer thanks and acknowledgement to all my staffers:
Bryan Berend, John Bien, Haley Brown, John Brown, Colby Burnett, Tim Coughlan, Alex Dzurick, Thomas Egan, Michael Feltes, Brad Fischer, David Fischer, Alex Fregeau, James Garcia, Jeff Geringer, Michael Haskins, Matt Hasquin, Huy Huynh, Chinmay Kansara, Mike Laudermith, Gary Liu, Sharon Lorinskas, Brandon Lunt, Zachary Miller, John Morse, Shayaan Naseer, Laura Plummer, Roman Salij, Rick Sheahan, Melody Song, Mike Sorice, Michael Steele, Andy Sun, Donald Taylor, Alison Tomchik, Hollee Trent, Tyler Vaughan, Bill Walsh, Andrew Wang, Sam Watt, Tristan Willey, and Berwin Xie.
If this tournament ran well, and I think it did, these are the people to thank.
While everyone did a ton of excellent work, these staffers are due special commendation:
Donald Taylor (stats, control room - deserves credit as co-TD in my opinion;)
Laura Plummer (logistics, packets, control room;)
Alison Tomchik (logistics, scoresheets, check in, control room;)
James Garcia (transportation, setup and checkin help;)
Mike Laudermith (checkin, payroll, cleanup, consultation;)
Andrew Wang (ABT liaison, logistical support;)
Bryan Berend (setup help;)
Colby Burnett (setup help;)
Zach Miller (finals setup help;)
Mike Feltes (packets;)
Bill Walsh (spotted error in schedule & helped to correct.)

Extra special thanks to:
Champaign Central High School & Coach LaDonna Fletcher;
University of Illinois, especially Illinois ABT, Department of Economics, and Professor Stephen L. Parente;
IHSSBCA, especially Mike Wong and Alec Krueger;
NAQT, especially Jeff Hoppes (sorry for that 0/6 at CO, Jeff!)

Good luck to everyone for the rest of the season. Let's do it again next year!

Edit: Changed the way All-Tournament Teams are listed. On Saturday, these were mistakenly issued by PPG instead of P/TU; doing the latter, as announced, changes one player, which isn't fair post-hoc.

[Captain Sinico]

Observers of the passing scene noted the following errors in the stats:
1. Bloomington A had 355, not 255, vs. Metea Valley (addition on scoresheet was wrong)
2. Metea Valley had 190, not 90, against Auburn A (score was entered wrong)
3. Arjun from OPRF was 0/2/0 nor 0/0/2 against "Lake County Academy" (scoresheet totals were wrong)
4. The packet names were entered wrong for Round Reports (I entered these wrong.)

None of these changed game winners or all-tournament. They have been fixed for the record: thanks for helping keep it right!