04-05 Alabama Teams

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04-05 Alabama Teams

Post by quizbowllee »

Well, I just got back from the ASCA "Fun" Tournament - and this is how it panned out:

Top Four Varsity:

1) Covenant Christian
2) LAMP
3) Brindlee Mountain (yes - they were all freshmen)
4) Bob Jones

Top Two JV:

1) Arab
2) LAMP

I wanted to point out that as Brindlee Mountain coach, I had the option of putting them in the JV division - but I opted to challenge them. I'm really hoping to see them grow over the next four years.

Also, I was wondering: does Grissom go to ANYTHING other than ASCA district, regionals, and state??? We're looking forward to playing them, but I've noticed (even back when I was in high school) that they don't go anywhere.

Anyway, who else is good this year, and what are some of your predictions?

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Post by alch2 »

Indian Springs will make a good run at it. I'm not sure about who else at this point.
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Post by DVader »

Congratulations on defeating my former team, Lee. I would have loved to have been there, but ASFA is just starting up practice this week.
Anyway, last year, Grissom also won at Buckhorn and the Bob Jones tournament. They also make up the majority of the Huntsville City All-Stars at the Huntsville City Invititational. But that's about it.

As for my picks on good teams this year, I think the top four teams at the Fun tourament will all do well this year. BJ's placing was a little surprising but their pool didn't sound too challenging, so this may or may not be an indicator of future performance for them. Grissom, even though they lost Shiva, will probably find people and be good. Russellville definitely won't be a force with Slade gone. Indian Springs might be good since Evan is in his senior year. Were they at the Fun Tournament and how did they do? As for my new team, I'll have to see at practice on Monday, but I'm hopeful.
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Post by quizbowllee »

Interestingly enough, Mrs. Daily informed me that Russellville is not having a team AT ALL this year... She said they only had one player.

As for Indian Springs, I don't think they were there...

Lee
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Post by steven-lamp »

Yeah, Indian Springs was a no-show at fun tournament, but their entire team last year was juniors, so they should be a force this year. Covenant Christian is quite good at the ASCA format with the shorter quetsions. They were in our prelim pool and we beat them on slightly longer questions, but the final round had shorter questions and they beat us pretty handily. Anyway, the tournament was pretty fun and probably a pretty good preview for state this year. Speaking of state, Grissom usually only competes in the aforementioned tournaments, which is a shame because they would probably do well at out of state tournaments. Anyway, my team is probably most looking forward to NAQT states this year, as we didn't go last year and we tend to play better on pyramidal questions. Fun tournament was pretty fun but I think the remainder of fall, including some of the out of state tournaments (UGA, Vandy, Walton, Brookwood) will also help define the forerunners of the state.
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Post by Golden Tiger 86 »

Whoa, Russellville isn't having a team this year? That's terrible...I was hoping for maybe something this year. This saddens me, I was kinda hoping that this year, they could be competitive.
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Post by ASimPerson »

I'm impressed to see the good folks at Bob Jones hanging around. Shame to hear about R-ville, though....is the balance of power in Alabama changing?
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Post by DVader »

Yes and no, Nick. The old stalwarts sans Russellville are still definitely going to bring a lot to the table, but they have some new competition from upstart teams like Brindlee Mountain and CCA. Congratulations to Bob Jones for their performance, but I think they're going to need a better test to determine their real strength. They only beat Randolph and LAMP B after all and lost to Buckhorn, CCA and Brindlee. Also, there are definitely some surprise teams waiting in the wings that might just upset the normal powerhouses.
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Post by alch2 »

cough ASFA cough : P
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Post by quizbowllee »

I am also dissapointed that Russellville has no high school team... I can't help but wonder where all of their former middle school players went... Last year at our invitational, their middle school team had 6 teams! That's right, there was a Russellville F team! And they weren't too bad. Where are all of their 8th graders from last year?

As for the Fun Tournament results, I was very pleased. My 9th graders were about to mutiny when I told them I wanted them to play varsity, but I think they understand now.

LAMP totally stomped us... And I was surprised that we were able to beat Bob Jones.

In the prelims, Cullman was ahead of us going into the 15-pointers, but we came back hard and won by 35. Cullman is pretty good this year. I was surprised that we beat Catholic High from Huntsville as bad as we did...

I would have loved to have seen Indian Springs, Grissom, and some of the other powerhouses.

Is Daphne going to be any good this year? What about Altamont (who won NAQT last year)? Bibb County - is Eric still around?

At any rate, I think things are going to be very interesting in Alabama this year. I'm thrilled to finally be a part of it again, even if I am a coach and not a player...

-Lee
Last edited by quizbowllee on Mon Sep 13, 2004 3:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by DVader »

Jonathan from Daphne graduated and so did Eric from Bibb County, so their program futures are uncertain. Looks like Cullman didn't suffer too much from losing their captain.
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Post by Golden Tiger 86 »

Actually, last year the middle school was loaded with 6th and 7th graders (my brother was one of them, he's an 8th grader this year). And a lot of those 8th graders weren't coming back anyway. Hopefully, next year, RHS will have a team and can rebuild.

As it is, I'm curious who the one player was at RHS?
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Post by steven-lamp »

Yeah, Mrs. Daly said that R-Ville should have a team again next year, as there was much middle school enthusiasm. Also, Stough is gone from bibb, as well as the entire altamont team (I think). Jonathan is gone from Daphne, and I think their team was all seniors last year anyway. Indian Springs has their entire team back as a squad of 4 seniors. LAMP lost Alex and Paul, but Jay, Khayla, and I remain from last year's team. Grissom lost Shiva and one other guy, but they had 2 more pretty decent juniors last year so we'll see there. CCA's captain (Clint, I believe his name is) has a very quick finger and good knowledge base. However, CCA wasn't converting a high number of bonuses at the tournament. Either way, you have to get the tossups to get the bonuses. I would really like to see some teams like CCA, Brindlee, Bob Jones, and (of course) Grissom go to some larger out of state tournaments (Walton, Brookwood, Vandy, Dorman, etc). Anyway, today we talked about it and I think that LAMP will be attending the UGA tournament in a week in a half or so, but we need to send our registration stuff off soon. Either way, Alabama is up in the air, like always.
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Post by quizbowllee »

Brindlee is planning to go to some out of state stuff. We are going to the tournament at UT-Chattanooga on Oct. 9. I'm kind of slowly getting them acquainted to out of state play. We would go to Vandy, but that is the weeked we hold our annual middle school tournament.

Incidentally, I hope to host a high school tournament at Brindlee Mountain sometime this year. I'm hoping it will be a pyramidal-type tournament and that I can get some out-of-state teams to come compete.

-Lee
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Post by steven-lamp »

You guys should definitely try to go to Brookwood or Walton. Those tournaments are well run with excellent house written questions. Semi-pyramidal and academic.
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Post by DVader »

I heard from my coach yesterday that Russellville will not be having their tournament this year due to lack of a high school team, and that Brindlee Mountain would be having a tournament in their place. Lee, what else do you know about this and other things at the Coaches' Conference?
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Post by quizbowllee »

This is true. Mrs. Daily informed us that Russellville will not be hosting their annual high school tournament.

I was planning on hosting a tournament later in the year, but decided to claim the now-vacant Russellville date. We will host a high school tournament at Brindlee Mountain. Details can be found in this post:

http://www.hsquizbowl.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1273

I sincerely hope that most or all of the teams that would've gone to Russellville will give Brindlee Mountain a shot. Also, this is a PACE qualifier, so the top 4 teams will be eligible to compete for a national title in Orlando in June!

-Lee
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Post by quizbowllee »

Three teams from Alabama made the trip to UT-Chattanooga yesterday for the Bob Selcer Memorial Tournament. Although highly outnumbered by teams from Tennessee and Georgia, we represented our state well. All three Alabama schools finished in the top four!

1st - Covenant Christian
2nd - Maryville (From TN or GA, I'm not sure)
3rd - Brindlee Mountain
4th - Indian Springs

Covenant Christian went undefeated - beating Brindlee Mountain on a tie-breaker after a very heated protest. But I don't want to get into that. Suffice it to say, there's no hard feelings towards Covenant Christian.

Maryville was a very tough team with one really good player...

We beat Indian Springs 220-175.

Finally, in the JV division:

1st - Brindlee Mountain JV A
2nd - Ringold
3rd - Brindlee Mountain JV B

I was very proud of this, considering that much of my JV team was 7th graders from my middle school team.

At any rate, this was a great tournament. We will go back to UTC without a doubt. Also, it gives us a little more insight into how the state teams look this year... It also shows us that Alabama schools can dominate the Southeast.

-Lee
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Post by Matt Weiner »

Please submit the tournament and its results to the front page.
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Post by steven-lamp »

Out of curiosity, was this a NAQT qualifying tournament?
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Post by quizbowllee »

No, it wasn't. It was not even NAQT format. It was, however, pyramidal tossups with 3-part bonuses.
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Post by steven-lamp »

House-written or purchased questions?
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Post by quizbowllee »

It being a national qualifier, I plan to allow my Varsity team to compete. Hence, no house-written questions. I have put out a request for freelancers (mainly players on the college circuit). If I don't get enough bites, the good folk at Athens State University have agreed to do a good bit of the writing as well.

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Post by quizbowllee »

Sorry - I had so many questions about our tournament at Brindlee Mountain that I answered the wrong question...

The questions at UTC were mainly house written with a few freelancers.
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Post by quizbowllee »

OK - It looks like Alabama may just be a convoluted mess this year, with no one team looking like a sure thing, but rather a group of about 5 or 6 that could take the title(s).

Today, Bevill-Jasper held their tournament.

Holy Spirit Catholic School won with a record of 8-1

Guess who gave them that one loss? Brindlee Mountain.

Brindlee Mountain lost two, though - one to Hoover (by a good margin) and one to Cullman by 15.

Hoover, also lost two. One to Altamont and one to Holy Spirit.

Altamont lost two as well, one to Holy Spirit and one to... Brindlee Mountain.

Because of this circle of death, Mr. Bobo decided to award 2nd place trophies to Altamont, Brindlee Mountain, and Hoover. This is also because total points wouldn't be fair... Apparantly, some teams heard different questions than others... Also, some weak teams left in the middle of the tournament (great sportsmanship...) which affected average points per game.

At any rate, it was an interesting day. Altamont still looks good. Holy Spirit obviously looks good, though we beat them pretty handidly. Cullman only won a few - one against us (go figure). Hoover beat us pretty bad, but struggled against some teams that we beat by a large margin...

It's gonna be an interesting year...

-Lee
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Post by steven-lamp »

Hopefully Brookwood and the Brindlee Mountain tournaments will provide some sort of further assessment capabilities before ASCA starts and NAQT states occur.
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Post by DVader »

We at ASFA had our first tournament today at Jefferson State Community College, which we won easily with a 6-0 record. Admittedly we weren't facing any top tier teams, but it was still a good kickoff to the season for us. We'll be at Austin tomorrow which should be more telling of our strength. BTW, do y'all know how well Bob Jones did at Bevill?
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Post by quizbowllee »

Bob Jones did not do too well... I think they only won 3 or 4 matches.

Brindlee Mountain is going to LAMP today... it's a 6th-9th grade tournament. Hence, I am able to take all of my players... We will be at Holy Spirit next weekend.

After that, we'll be at Athens State on Dec. 3 and our own tournament Dec. 4.

-Lee
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Post by DVader »

Results from the Austin Tournament today:

Finals: ASFA over Bob Jones 290-130
Consolation: Randolph over Catholic B

Good tournament except for the questions from :chip: , which featured Byzantine mythology and multiple 4th derivative of trig function questions which no one, not even my team's resident math genius, could get. Holy Spirit is next week; I can't wait.
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Post by Captain Sinico »

DVader wrote:...multiple 4th derivative of trig function questions which no one, not even my team's resident math genius, could get....
Uhm... derivatives of trig functions are cyclic; they're their own fourth derivatives. Other things might complicate this (chaining, products of trig functions, etc.) but that's really not as hard as it sounds. (Just so we're clear, this is not to say that Chip doesn't suck, because that would be to lie.)
Also, what the devil is Byzantine mythology? The Byzantines were Christians.

MaS
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Post by DVader »

It might not have been Byzantinian mythology but I'm pretty sure it was from a Middle Eastern country. The derivatives were like y=x^3+sin(x)+e^(2x) (Disclaimer: I don't remember the exact equations from the questions so this is just an approximation) and were a disproportionate amount of the questions in later rounds. Of course, the difficulty of these questions is a moot point since we won the last round by a pretty good margin.
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Post by Captain Sinico »

0+sin(x)+2^4*e^(2x). 2.12 seconds; not so hard.
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Post by quizbowllee »

Who all was at Austin High yesterday? We had already committed to LAMP for their 6-9 tournament, so we didn't go.

Incidentally, we took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place at LAMP... Would've taken 4th also, but my 7th graders lost by 15 to Indian Springs...









*Edited one time to fix some terrible grammar mistakes that made me want to wretch. (cool)
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Post by DVader »

Results from the Holy Spirit Invitational:

Varsity
1st place: ASFA
2nd place: Brindlee Mountain
3rd place: Indian Springs

JV
1st: Indian Springs
2nd: Buckhorn
3rd: Brindlee Mountain

Overall, good tournament, good questions, good teams. We had our first loss of the year against Mountain Brook, but it didn't hurt our standings in the tournament.
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Post by quizbowllee »

I agree with almost everything you said... My team didn't really care much for the questions. Some of them were flat wrong. A couple examples come to mind:

The Mississippi River is the longest river in North America, not the MacKenzie.

And secondly (in the semi-final round, I might add), "Beauty is truth, truth beauty..." is the most famous line from John Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn." However, the answer on the paper was "Endymion."

After months of practicing using NAQT and other pyramidal-style questions, my kids have learned to have a good deal of disdain for shorter questions. This was the first ASCA-style tournament we had been to since the "Fun Tournament" in Sept.

Anyway, after winning our pool and beating Indian Springs in the Semi-Final match, it looked like Brindlee Mountain was going to have their first ever Varsity-level championship, but ASFA squeaked by us 185-180. Congrats to them. I don't think their is a nicer team than ASFA. Nor is there a classier coach than Mr. Donald Chatman. He is truly a class act, and if my team had to lose, I'm glad it was to a team like ASFA.

At any rate, we're very much looking forward to the Athens State and Brindlee Mountain tournaments that will have longer pyramidal questions, as that is where our strength lies.

Congrats again to ASFA.

-Lee
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Post by DVader »

Thank you for the compliments Lee. BTW, does anyone know what teams are going to attend the Athens State tournament on Friday?
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Post by quizbowllee »

I know a few teams that are going to be there:

Brindlee Mountain
ASFA
Covenant Christian
Bob Jones
Arab
Cullman
Athens High
Athens Bible School

That's all I know for sure. It looks like its going to be a good competition. The field is pretty strong. Last I heard there were 17 teams registered, but some of those might be from the same school.
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Post by quizbowllee »

OK - I think that there has been sufficient tournament action to make a shortlist of the top 5 or so teams in Alabama this year.

Here is what I think, based on tournaments so far this year:

In no particular order, the top five seem to be:

LAMP
ASFA
Indian Springs
Brindlee Mountain
Covenant Christian

Close contenders:

Cullman
Hoover
Arab
Altamont
Holy Spirit

Also, we have yet to see what Grissom is going to throw at us this year... What do you guys think, and how would you rank the teams? Did I leave anyone out?
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Post by Mr. Brindlee Mountain »

Just an addendum to quizbowlee's opinion to the top five teams. It is impossible to actually rank the top five teams in order. While Brindlee Mountain (mi casa) has never beaten LAMP at a tournament head-to-head before, we have managed to beat all the teams that beat LAMP and we've won the tournament that way. We've been beaten by Covenant Christian in the only round we've played them at UT Chattanooga by a tiebreaker (there was a large protest, so that one is kinda "iffy"). We've been beaten by ASFA one out of three times, by a margin of five points, the other two times we defeated them soundly (a difference in format must be taken into consideration, however). We have not lost to the Altamont School at all, having beaten them all three times. So the guess is yours to make as to who is 1st-5th. I personally think Brindlee Mtn. is, but I'm obviously gonna be biased! Merry Christmas everyone, the big tournaments will be coming up in 2005 and maybe then we'll find out who is the best of the best.
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Post by quizbowllee »

Well... distracting as the LAMP poll was, I think we might want to bring the Alabama discusions back to this thread.

What are everyone's thoughts at this point?

ASFA impressed me with their 2nd place finish at LAMP. Good job, David et. al!!!

I think it's now safe for me to declare my top 4 in the state (in no order) as:

ASFA
LAMP
Brindlee Mountain
Indian Springs


Close contenders:

Covenant Christian
Cullman
Holy Spirit
and maybe the ever-elusive Grissom (based totally on years past)

In my top four, I think anyone could come out on top. LAMP seems to have Brindlee Mountain's number, having a 2-0 record against BMHS so far this year. However, ASFA has beaten LAMP in what I believe is the only match they played each other this year. Brindlee Mountain is 2-1 against ASFA and 3-0 against Indian Springs... However, Indian Springs has beaten both ASFA and LAMP.... So, like I said, anyone could come out on top in those four...

I'm sure that the Bob Jones and Bryant tournaments this weekend will give us even more to go on.

-Lee
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Post by steven-lamp »

Indian Springs hasn't beaten us this year. ASFA did beat us at Brindlee Moutain and CCA got us once at Fun Tournament. I think you should probably include CCA in the top tier, because they will be a force at ASCA, but maybe not NAQT states.
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Post by DVader »

I think CCA would have done a lot better at Athens State had their captain been there for more than the last round. Because of his absence they lost to Bob Jones but he came just in time to beat us. They definitely do deserve ranking in the top tier. And we did beat Indian Springs once this year, although Evan wasn't there at the time.
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Post by jrbarry »

Do the suburban Birmingham public high schools ever win anything in Alabama? Their absence from contention always baffles me from my "next door" perch!
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Post by Golden Tiger 86 »

Well, Mr. Barry, for a long time, a lot of the suburban Birmingham schools (Vestavia Hills, Hoover, Mountain Brook, Pelham, Homewood) didn't really try. However, about 5 years ago, Mountain Brook started from scratch and was really good for a couple of years (they went 3-4 at the state tournament in 2002, but lost 3 of those by a combined 50 points). The only school that puzzled me with their badness was Hoover, because it is by far the largest school in the state, and you figured they would be tough (their football team has won the previous 3 Alabama 6A state championships, and their basketball and baseball teams are perennial powerhouses). However, it seems that Hoover is really really good this year.
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Post by quizbowllee »

A few statements:

jrbarry said: Do the suburban Birmingham public high schools ever win anything in Alabama? Their absence from contention always baffles me from my "next door" perch!
It seems that Huntsville, not Birmingham, is the center of Quiz Bowl power in Alabama...

Slade mentioned Hoover. They are decent this year, and I originally had them down as a contender for the top 5... But they really seem to struggle on pyramidal style questions. On shorter, speed oriented questions, though, they are pretty good.

Also, Vestavia Hills has started a team this year that is quite impressive considering it is their first year. They will be a powerhouse in the coming years if they stick to it.


steven-lamp said: I think you should probably include CCA in the top tier, because they will be a force at ASCA, but maybe not NAQT states.
I considered CCA and, had I made the list "Top 5" instead of "Top 4," I would have included them. They are definitely right up there. On a somewhat related note, I am fairly certain that CCA, Grissom, and Brindlee Mountain will all be in the same ASCA district (also with Randolph, Huntsville High, and the other H'ville schools) - with only 2 advancing to regionals. That's going to be interesting... and intense.

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Post by steven-lamp »

That will be very intense. And I think you all's region includes Bob Jones, ASFA, and ISS, as well. Our region has Daphne, who beat us at regionals last year. But now that Mr. Thompson has graduated, they shouldn't be a threat. Anyway, CCA struggles on pyramidal questions. I think LAMP, BM, ISS, and ASFA (in no particular order) are probably the strongest pyramidal-style teams in the state, as exemplified by LAMP and ISS's performances at Brookwood (straight-up academic pyramidal tossups). Anyhow, I'm just eager to see how well we perform at nationals this year. I probably won't know what national LAMP will be going to until much later in the semester, though.
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quizbowllee
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Post by quizbowllee »

Actually, unless things change, the B'ham schools (Indian Springs and ASFA) will go to the regional in Gadsden.

However, I do think it is safe to assume that one or more of the top 8 schools will NOT make it to state (or even regionals) due entirely to being in a district with other top tier Alabama teams. It sucks, but such is the nature of the beast...
Lee Henry
AP Lit and APUSH Teacher
Quiz Bowl Coach
West Point High School
President-Elect/Past President- Alabama Scholastic Competition Association (ASCA)
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steven-lamp
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Post by steven-lamp »

Yeah. I probably shouldn't be saying this, since my old coach is the president, but I really don't like ASCA. The questions, format and location in Muscle Shaols (way northwest corner of the state) are really annoying. Oh well. I think more attention should be given to NAQT states. By the way, is there any news on when/where they will be held?
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quizbowllee
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Post by quizbowllee »

NAQT Alabama State Championship is Saturday, April 23 at Bevill-State CC in Jasper.
Lee Henry
AP Lit and APUSH Teacher
Quiz Bowl Coach
West Point High School
President-Elect/Past President- Alabama Scholastic Competition Association (ASCA)
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DVader
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Post by DVader »

I believe that this year they moved ASCA State to Jefferson State Community College over in Shelby County, a much more central location than Northwest Shoals. That's what the minutes from the ASCA Board meeting said. As for the Birmingham area teams, my team has played many of them and won most of the time with a few close losses. At LAMP we defeated both Vestavia and Hoover, a team we had been pretty competitive with, in succession and lost to Oak Mountain, a team we had beaten multiple times at other tournaments, early on. While the Birmingham region has a good bit of challenge and competitiveness, it is nothing compared to the almost nightmarishy competitive Huntsville region.
David John Gagne,
University of Oklahoma
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