Florida '09-'10

[kayli]

Is it too early to be making prediction? Hell, no!

This is going to be an interesting year with the best of Ransom Everglades and infamous Matt Byrd graduating. Pensacola retains it's two highest scorers. Predictions:
1. Pensacola High School
2. Ransom Everglades
3. Lawton Chiles

I don't really know other than that =\.

[AKKOLADE]

Kay, is Matthew going to be back for Pensacola?

[mhawlik]

Hey, Fred. You mean me? I went to Ransom Everglades, not Pensacola And nope, I will not be back; off to Yale in two weeks!

I'll make some predictions too, now that I'm here.

1. Pensacola. Having lost no one to graduation, David, Kay, Helie, and Nathan, especially, will be quality players with another year of experience under their belts. Under Kay's enthusiastic efforts to get Pensacola and other Florida teams more involved on the national stage, Pensacola's star should only rise, especially if they go to both the NSC and qualify some more players for the HSAPQ national tournament as well as the HSNCT, which they did not do half-bad at last year.

2. Ransom Everglades. Unfortunately, Ransom lost a lot of its talent nucleus, with Jesse Weinberg, the 33rd highest scorer at the HSNCT, leaving for Tufts, James Barrett-Morison, resident astronomer and geographer, leaving for Amherst, and me leaving for Yale. However, we definitely have eager, enthusiastic talent coming up the ranks in Matthew Susskind, a phenom rising junior who beat out several talented seniors for a spot on our HSNCT A Team, Dan Trauner (ex-White Plains High School, and therefore recovering from ), a rising senior, and David Froomkin, another rising junior, just to name a few. Hard for us to come to a lot of tournaments, as well, seeing any Florida tourney is almost always at least five hours away

3. Chiles. Like Kay, not sure about the other teams in the circuit, but I remember they performed well at every tournament our teams both attended.

4. Dr. Phillips. Not sure if Kyle Jones is staying or not, but I remember he was a quality player. Other players not really factors, unfortunately.

5. Eastside. Well-balanced team at NAQT States, in my recollection.

6. Niceville?

All right, I'm done. Concise conclusion: Pensacola and Ransom will definitely be the two teams to look out for from Florida next year. Hope to do what I can to help the Florida/SE circuit from my hidey-hole in New Haven!

[AKKOLADE]

Hey, Fred. You mean me? I went to Ransom Everglades, not Pensacola And nope, I will not be back; off to Yale in two weeks!

Actually, according to HSNCT stats, there's a Matthew R. that played for Pensacola last year.

[mhawlik]

Haha fair enough. This Matthew R. looks to be at least a pretty solid player regionally, especially compared to the rest of what Florida has to offer. not sure why I didn't notice him before... thanks for pointing him out!

[kayli]

Oh Matt? That's an odd person to ask for. But he's going to Georgia Tech next year where I doubt he will play. Pensacola has a history of people not wanting to play in college. The only one that I quasi-know who played is Tim Hildebrand.

As for the state comparisons, Eastside has I believe one rising senior who is rather good. Niceville I know has one rising senior who's really smart... However, I only know that he's smart from meeting him at Intel ISEF. I think he said that his team is going to be okay next year; and if questions arise on biofilm and pseudomonas, he'll be the first to get it. There's also Lincoln in the circuit which typically performs above par. However, I don't know who they're graduating and who they're keeping.

That being said, I'll extend my rankings to:
1. Pensacola
2. Ransom Everglades
3. Chiles
4. Dr. Phillips
5. Eastside
6. Lincoln
7. Niceville


For optimal quizbowl attendance, I have constructed this:




I estimate that the three regions of highest quizbowl output are in the Panhandle, the Gainesville-Orlando-ish area, and the Miami. Using those three points, I constructed a triangle and found the circumcenter of which. This gives the location equidistant from those three points. Therefore, that black dot is the optimal location for all quizbowling events such that no one team has the geographical advantage. Be sure to bring your swimsuits!

[AdamL]

But he's going to Georgia Tech next year where I doubt he will play. Pensacola has a history of people not wanting to play in college.

Hey, I'd like to contact this Matt R. person, but I can't seem to find him on Facebook. Anybody know his last name?

[kayli]

But he's going to Georgia Tech next year where I doubt he will play. Pensacola has a history of people not wanting to play in college.

Hey, I'd like to contact this Matt R. person, but I can't seem to find him on Facebook. Anybody know his last name?

Robinett. Um, he's very... unusual. He doesn't have a facebook so the only way to contact him is by phone or e-mail. I might go canoeing on Friday, and he'll probably be there. I'll ask him if he has any interest.

By the way, what's with the interest with Matt?

[Sen. Estes Kefauver (D-TN)]

Well, presumably someone from Georgia Tech's quizbowl team would like to meet quizbowlers going to Georgia Tech.

[AdamL]

Dunno if you're asking about me specifically or just this thread, but I'm just looking for more people that might join the team at GT. I'm not sure he'd be at your canoeing trip this Friday seeing as how classes start this week, though... Anyway, if you do happen to talk to him, please do ask if he's interested and give him my email: [email protected] (or, could you email me his contact info so I can try myself?). Thanks

[kayli]

I was kinda thinking in general.

Hm... I didn't know classes start this week for y'all... I'll be sure to pass on the information.

[AKKOLADE]

I estimate that the three regions of highest quizbowl output are... the Miami.

So, what goes on in Miami for quiz bowl?

[mhawlik]

Pretty much Ransom Everglades. Not sure if any of the other schools in our area know about NAQT, or even about any quizbowl format...we were lucky in that our high school teachers happened to be ex-quizbowl players on the circuit. From what I can tell, our team hasn't gone to anything yet this year, and that their next tournament will be at UF at the beginning of December.

[kayli]

Florida doesn't have a very large quizbowl circuit. We're dominated by CAC and county level CAC-like tournaments. Many people I've talked to from Team Florida didn't even know that the modern quizbowl form even existed or how widespread it is. Expansion of good quizbowl into Florida would be a daunting task. However, if CAC goes down due to the large amount of money it takes to keep up the tournament, then perhaps more schools will convert to good quizbowl.

[kayli]

We finally have something to talk about in here!

UF Winter results:
1. Pensacola
2. Eastside
3. Ransom Everglades
4. Rickards

I know Ransom Everglades is seriously rebuilding this year, and I'm not sure what's up with the other teams. But (not to toot my own horn), it looks like Pensacola is by far the best team in Florida 'cause we beat most teams by an average margin of about 200 points. Notably, neither Chiles nor Dr. Phillips showed up to this tournament so I'm not terribly sure how they're going to be. But as of right now, I maintain that Pensacola is the best in Florida.

[Matt Weiner]

What set was this tournament played on?

[kayli]

What set was this tournament played on?

I believe it was house written.

[bjorkchop]

8th Annual Montverde Academic Tournament (1-16-10)

As usual, Roger Ross and the Montverde volunteers put on a great tournament. This was likely power-protected by design, because 9 of the 22 teams went 6-0 in prelims. Only the top 8 advanced, which meant that Seed 8 and Seed 9 (based on total prelim points) needed to have a five-question playoff.

After prelims (total points)
1 Eastside A
2 Suwannee
3 Dr Phillips
4 Winter Park
5 Vanguard A
6 Collegiate A
7 Ransom Everglades A
8 Leon A
9 South Fork A (wins the playoff with Leon)

Quarterfinals
(1) Eastside def. (8) South Fork
(7) Ransom def. (2) Suwannee
(6) Collegiate def. (3) Dr Phillips
(4) Winter Park def. (5) Vanguard

Semi Finals
(4) Winter Park def. (1) Eastside
(7) Ransom def. (6) Collegiate

Finals (in a repeat final match-up from 2009)
(7) Ransom def. (4) Winter Park 165-150

[Jesus vs. Dragons]

I am sure that Dallin has told you Kay, but Chipola is trying as hard as possible to bring good quizbowl to Florida. We will be running another tournament this spring and, like last time, we will be trying to get as many participants as possible. We have not had interest from any of the Tallahassee teams in the past, so maybe you would have more luck contacting players from their teams that you know.

[kayli]

I know a couple of players, and I'll try to generate support. In my opinion, the region of Florida that needs to learn good quizbowl the most is central and Southern Florida as they seem to be the CAC strongholds. At least up North and Northwest, we know what pyramidal quizbowl is.

[Jesus vs. Dragons]

I know a couple of players, and I'll try to generate support. In my opinion, the region of Florida that needs to learn good quizbowl the most is central and Southern Florida as they seem to be the CAC strongholds. At least up North and Northwest, we know what pyramidal quizbowl is.

Agreed. CAC is crap unfortunately, and it seems to be all anyone cares about. I believe it is mentioned in a different thread but the state-championship formats (both at high school and community college) are completely crap. It is fairly unfortunate that such a populous state with so many excellent schools can not transition to pyramidal questions. One day, perhaps...

[kayli]

So at NAQT states this year, it looks like Ransom Everglades comes out on top again (though Pensacola wasn't there ;D) with Eastside finishing 2nd, Suwannee 3rd, and Dr. Phillips 4th. Hopefully either Pensacola or Ransom Everglades can make a good dark horse run at HSNCT this year (well... if we go).

[Kwang the Ninja]

Quick CAC Division III results--
1. Jackson 2. Monroe 3. Wakulla
Division I final should've just started, and I'm not sure what happened in DII.
EDIT: I have just been informed that Santa Rosa won Division II, and learned from an unverified source (Wikipedia) that Escambia won Division I. If this is true, then it constitutes the first Panhandle sweep of the CAC since 2000(Escambia/Leon/Taylor).
EDIT 2: Escambia's victory is now verified. Polk came in second.

[Kwang the Ninja]

Also, I have been informed that Team Florida (consisting of Paul Kelson, Kay Li, and four other unknown persons) will not be competing this year. Meaning, I suppose, that the NTAE/PAC is officially dead.

[kayli]

The results from the finals are:
Division 1
1. Escambia 233
2. Polk 198
3. Brevard 188
4. Sarasota 143
5. Pinellas 111
6. Duval 96

Division 2
1. Santa Rosa 228
2. Leon 212
3. St. Lucie 177
4. Clay 166
5. Martin 158
6. Okaloosa 145

Division 3
1. Jackson 175
2. Monroe 166
3. Wakulla 153
4. Suwannee 152
5. Sumter 148
6. Hardee 143


The members of Team Florida off the top of my head are: David Fleischhaur (Escambia), Sarah Harms (Santa Rosa), Paul Kelson (Jackson), Kay Li (Escambia), Ryan Pace (Leon), and some other guy.

[dxdtdemon]

Did you transfer to Escambia or are there two quizbowlers named Kay Li?

[Jesus vs. Dragons]

Did you transfer to Escambia or are there two quizbowlers named Kay Li?

They are broken down by county and Pensacola is in Escambia.

[kayli]

^That.

I probably should have made that clearer considering there's a high school called Escambia round hyar.

[Kwang the Ninja]

The members of Team Florida off the top of my head are: David Fleischhaur (Escambia), Sarah Harms (Santa Rosa), Paul Kelson (Jackson), Kay Li (Escambia), Ryan Pace (Leon), and some other guy.

Wow, I didn't realize that all but one of the members of Team Florida were from the Panhandle. Go North Florida!
EDIT: The other person is from Suwannee! Team Florida is all from the Panhandle!

[kayli]

The sixth person is Donovan Pate from Suwannee County. So, depending on how loose your definition of Panhandle is, it's a sweep!

[bjorkchop]

This could be too soon to tell, but would any high school teams travel to Miami for an NAQT tournament next academic year (TBD: on a non-standardized testing Saturday in Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb)? We have a big calendar meeting at the end of May, and I would need to claim a weekend sooner than later.

[kayli]

This could be too soon to tell, but would any high school teams travel to Miami for an NAQT tournament next academic year (TBD: on a non-standardized testing Saturday in Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb)? We have a big calendar meeting at the end of May, and I would need to claim a weekend sooner than later.

I doubt Pensacola could. It's a pretty huge drive (or a really expensive plane ride) for us. Tallahassee people are probably also out of luck. However, I think you guys can get South and Central Florida interested. There are some good schools down there, and any expansion into good quizbowl and away from CAC would be a good thing.