Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

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Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by jacquirenee »

Hello all!

Hope you are having a great fall and a great start to the season with your Quiz Bowl Teams!

We at Newtown High School are hosting our first ever Quiz Bowl Invitational on Saturday, December 8, 2012 and we really hope you will join us!

Check-in for the tournament will begin at 8:30 a.m., with the first round scheduled to begin promptly at 9:30. In keeping with the last several CT Invitational tournaments, we are going to keep our registration schedule low to encourage participation. Our fee schedule is as follows:

Base fee per team: $55
Discount for additional teams: $5 for subsequent teams from the same school
Discount for working buzzer system: $10
Discount for moderator: $5

To register for the tournament, please email me at [email protected] with the following information: 1) How many teams you anticipate bringing, 2) How many buzzers you anticipate bringing, 3) How many moderators you anticipate bringing. I will provide an invoice, as well.

Thank you so much and we look forward to seeing you on December 8!

-Jacqui Kaplan
Newtown High School
Quiz Bowl Coach
Jacquelyn Kaplan
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by AKKOLADE »

What questions will you be using?
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by jacquirenee »

We are planning on using HSAPQ questions, but I have not heard back from their representative yet, so I didn't want to announce it quite yet.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by jacquirenee »

Just a quick update on the 12/8 tournament.

We are capping the field at 16 for now, but may expand if more teams can provide moderators. Also, we WILL be using HSAPQ questions.

Thanks and hope to hear from you!
Jacqui Kaplan
Jacquelyn Kaplan
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by jacquirenee »

Hello!

I wanted to do a field update for our December 8 tournament in Newtown. We have capped the tournament at 16 teams, and we are almost halfway there! Please let me know if you have a team interested in joining us!

Woodland -- 2 teams
Avon -- 2 teams
Suffield -- 2 teams
Housatonic -- 1 teams
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by jacquirenee »

We are happy to announce that we have been affiliated with the PACE NSC. This means that the top 15% of our field at the Newtown Invitational will qualify for the National Scholastic Championship sponsored by PACE. (http://www.pace-nsc.org/). Don't forget to sign up ASAP to reserve your spot in our field!
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by SHP Pirate »

Seton Hall Prep (West Orange, NJ) is interested in this tournament. I may have up to 3/4 teams. I have 5 buzzers and at least one moderator. I will get back to you late this week or early next week.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by MServetasF1 »

So far, North Babylon is expressing interest in bringing one team and an unspecified amount of buzzer systems.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by jacquirenee »

Hello! Here's a field update for the 12/8 Newtown Invitational.

Woodland - 2
Avon - 2
Suffield - 2
Housatonic - 1?
Kellenberg - 2
Seton Hall - 3?
Half Hollow Hills - 2
North Babylon - 1
Newtown - 1?

We have some unconfirmed numbers right now, as you can see, and are tentatively holding a spot for one of our own teams to play, but if we have more interest and more staff/buzzers, we will be able to expand the field. So please let me know as soon as you can! Looking forward to a great day of Quiz Bowl!
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by Adventure Temple Trail »

jacquirenee wrote: Half Hollow Hills - 2
Be sure to double-check which "Half Hollow Hills" this is!
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by ProfessorIanDuncan »

Irvington expresses interest. We have had some transportation issues and hopefully they will be mended.

EDIT: Just put us down for one team for now. We'll probably bring 2 buzzer systems.
Last edited by ProfessorIanDuncan on Sat Oct 27, 2012 3:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by mzhang13 »

Unaffiliated Smithtown East (Red Bulls) may be interested, but this is extremely tentative due to transportation for now, but hope to update soon.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by rpirrie »

Hello--
E. O. Smith would like to bring 2 teams perhaps three. We also have two buzzers and can provide a staff person. We can also help with any logistics questions!
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by Redgrass1 »

Is it okay if Ridgewood comes as Team Q? We will have 1 team and 2 buzzers.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by Edward Powers »

Saint Joseph's would like to register two teams and one buzzer system. We can also provide a moderator if needed.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by jacquirenee »

Hello all!

Hope all our Northeast people are faring well after Sandy and prepared for more winter weather!

I just wanted to do a field update for our 12/8 tournament:

Woodland -- 2 teams
Avon -- 2 teams
Housatonic -- possibly 1 team
Kellenberg -- 2 teams
Seton Hall -- 3 teams
HHH West -- 2 teams
North Babylon -- 1 team
Irvington -- possibly 1 team
Smithtown East -- possibly 1 team
EO Smith -- 2 teams
St. Joseph's -- 2 teams
Newtown -- possibly 1 or 2 teams, depending on staffing needs

Since we have gotten 4 additional staffers, we will be able to accommodate a field of this size, but we will have to close the registration for now, unless additional teams can bring additional staffers.

Also, if your team registered and has offered a staffer, please be advised that we will almost certainly need you!

Looking forward to a great day of Quiz Bowl December 8!
Jacqui Kaplan
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Jacquelyn Kaplan
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by ProfessorIanDuncan »

I would like to confirm that Irvington is bringing one team. Can you provide a running waitlist also? For some reason people on my team actually wanted to go to this so I may want to put a second team of the waitlist, but if the waitlist is too long i won't bother.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by Kid In Green Shirt »

I'd like to express interest for Horace Greeley, if you can take us. We'd be bringing 1 or 2 teams, 1 buzzer set and a moderator, but I need to verify with my coach first. We may be able to bring 2 moderators.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by cindy_du »

I know that this tournament has reached its cap,
but Scarsdale (in N.Y.) is interested, and could have one team and one buzzer set.
If you are keeping a wait list, could you put us down on it?
thank you!
-Cindy Du
Scarsdale, N.Y.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by TonyEgg »

A few students from High Technology High School would like to attend as Team Nevis. We can supply no moderators or buzzers.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by Redgrass1 »

If a wait list is made, Ridgewood would also like to be added on the list.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by jacquirenee »

Hello all!

Here is an update for the tournament field for the 12/8 tournament. I've included the wait list, as well. Again, if you can bring an experienced moderator/scorekeeper, we may be able to accommodate you. Those listed on the wait list will be contacted in the order they are listed (the order they contacted me) if/when a spot opens for them. Looking forward to a great day of Quiz Bowl!

Woodland 2
Avon 2
Housatonic 1?
Kellenberg 2
Seton Hall 3 / 4
HHH 2
North Babylon 1
Irvington 1
Smithtown East 1?
EO Smith 2
St. Joseph’s 2
Scarsdale 1
Horace Greeley 2

Wait List
Ridgewood 1
Scarsdale 1
High Tech 1
Irvington 1 (2nd team)
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by jacquirenee »

Just wanted to do a field update for the 12/8 tournament.

Woodland 1
Avon 2
Kellenberg 2
Seton Hall 3 / 4
HHH 2
North Babylon 1
Irvington 1
EO Smith 2
St. Joseph’s 2
Scarsdale 1
Horace Greeley 2
Ridgewood 1
Scarsdale 1

Wait List
High Tech 1
Irvington 1 (2nd team)
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by jacquirenee »

Hello everyone!

Here's the (hopefully final) field update for our tournament this Saturday:
Woodland 1
Avon 2
Kellenberg 2
Seton Hall 3
HHH 2
North Babylon 1
Irvington 1
EO Smith 3
St. Joseph’s 2
Horace Greeley 2
Ridgewood 1
High Tech 1

Wait List
Irvington (2nd team)

Can't wait to see everybody there!
Jacquelyn Kaplan
Newtown High School
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by jacquirenee »

Good morning Quiz Bowlers!

We are getting very excited for our tournament this Saturday! We're working very hard to make it as fun and streamlined as possible. Just wanted to do a final field update, as well as send a few reminders about the tournament.

1) Our school isn't too close to many option for fast, easily accessible food. We have several excellent pizza delivery places, and will provide menus and contact info for them to you upon your arrival, but if pizza's not your thing, you might want to plan on bringing lunches.

2) Please make sure that you are here on time in the morning, especially if you are bringing a buzzer system! We'll start registration at 8:30 and want to begin the first round NO LATER than 9:30 (though it would be wonderful if we could kick off a little earlier!)

3) If you have signed up to bring a buzzer and/or a moderator, I will definitely need both!

Thanks and we are looking forward to seeing you Saturday!

Final field:
Woodland 1
Avon 2
Kellenberg 2
Seton Hall 3
HHH 2
North Babylon 1
Irvington 1
EO Smith 3
St. Joseph’s 2
Horace Greeley 2
Ridgewood 1
High Tech 1
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by SHP Pirate »

SHP will have two teams, multiple buzzers, and one reader. A third team might be "rustled-up" if needed.

- MTZ
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by Kid In Green Shirt »

Horace Greeley will only be able to bring 1 team. However, we can still bring a buzzer set and a moderator.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by MahoningQuizBowler »

As a reminder to everyone going to Newtown this weekend, if you haven't already played (or made plans to play) NHBB's B Set elsewhere, please consider returning to Newtown on Sunday, Feb. 10 for NHBB Connecticut. Good luck on Saturday!
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by BroNi »

Kellenberg is actually bringing 10, so we could put 2 on a Chimera team if that will help the brackets.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by Edward Powers »

Some quick results until the stats are posted:

In the Quarterfinals, #1 Ridgewood defeated #8 North Babylon; # 2 Saint Joe's A defeated #7 Saint Joe's B; #6 Kellenberg defeated #3 Horace Greeley; # 4 High Tech defeated #5 Irvington;

In the Semifinals, Ridgewood defeated Kellenberg and Saint Joe's A defeated High Tech;

In the Championship, Ridgewood defeated Saint Joe's A.

Congratulations to Ridgewood and all of the playoff teams, and thanks to Newtown for hosting. It was great to hear some HSAPQ questions in this region.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by BroNi »

Kellenberg defeated High Tech for 3rd place.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by jacquirenee »

Hello all!

Thank you to everyone who came, everyone who helped out, and most especially everyone who played an awesome day of Quiz Bowl at our first (maybe annual?) Newtown Invitational! Here is a link to the stats:
http://www.hsquizbowl.org/db/tournament ... s/prelims/

Our SQBS crashed on the main statkeeper's computer, so the rounds report itself is null (all labeled as one big round 0), but other than that the stats are complete for rounds, individuals, and teams in prelims.

Our champion was Ridgewood, 2nd place St. Joseph's A, and 3rd Kellenberg A, all of whom will now qualify for the PACE NSC. Congratulations to all!
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by Adventure Temple Trail »

Congratulations to Newtown for hosting their first tournament, and congrats to Ridgewood for winning. I hope everyone had a good time.

Some suggestions for the future:
-It seems as though teams were put into three brackets of 6 for the prelims. For clarity in the stats, it's capable to go into SQBS, click the "Enable Divisions" setting, and assign each team to a "division" corresponding to the bracket they're in (you can give them funny names, too). That way, the statistics for each preliminary round bracket are self-contained. Let me know if you need any other SQBS help posted playoff stats and the oft-overlooked combined stats.

-When running a tournament of this small a size, it is (to put it lightly) very inadvisable to run a single-elimination playoff, and most modern tournament directors would basically forbid it. Single-elimination playoff formats prevent many of the teams at the tournament from playing as many rounds as they could easily and feasibly play given the money they paid to attend. With eighteen teams, it is possible to run a 9-round schedule in which the top two teams from each prelim bracket play four crossover games against both sets of top-two teams from the prelim brackets outside theirs, or a 10-round schedule in which each team in the top two of any prelim bracket plays all five other such teams. Relatedly, were consolation rounds offered?

-I am somewhat disappointed by the small number of New England teams who actually showed up to this event; it existed in large part to give New England teams more opportunities to play, and with the exceptions of E.O. Smith, Woodland, and Avon, that simply opportunity simply wasn't taken. Rather, a large part of the NY/NJ circuit merely traveled a bit further to compete against itself. I would like to hear some earnest suggestions from people about how to ensure that more New England teams come to events such as this one, given that a larger and more involved New England tournament calendar is a short-term goal of many people in the region. Was there a need for more contact? Is this too far for Massachusetts teams to travel, or did the simultaneously-scheduled History Bowl drag away the prospective teams from that state? Is it because no one in NY/NJ was using this HSAPQ set?
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by a bird »

RyuAqua wrote:Congratulations to Newtown for hosting their first tournament, and congrats to Ridgewood for winning. I hope everyone had a good time.
-When running a tournament of this small a size, it is (to put it lightly) very inadvisable to run a single-elimination playoff, and most modern tournament directors would basically forbid it. Single-elimination playoff formats prevent many of the teams at the tournament from playing as many rounds as they could easily and feasibly play given the money they paid to attend. With eighteen teams, it is possible to run a 9-round schedule in which the top two teams from each prelim bracket play four crossover games against both sets of top-two teams from the prelim brackets outside theirs, or a 10-round schedule in which each team in the top two of any prelim bracket plays all five other such teams. Relatedly, were consolation rounds offered?
I certainly agree with Matt about the single elimination play-offs. I think the solution Matt purposed is probably best, but there are other options. Kevin Commo, a prominent tournament director in Vermont, deals with this by taking a single elimination bracket and having the losers play each other. This is certainly an improvement over a true single elimination format, (because every team gets to play in all the rounds) but it does share some issues with single elimination play-offs. I'm going to post about that in the PHAT thread if anyone's interested.
RyuAqua wrote: -I am somewhat disappointed by the small number of New England teams who actually showed up to this event; it existed in large part to give New England teams more opportunities to play, and with the exceptions of E.O. Smith, Woodland, and Avon, that simply opportunity simply wasn't taken. Rather, a large part of the NY/NJ circuit merely traveled a bit further to compete against itself. I would like to hear some earnest suggestions from people about how to ensure that more New England teams come to events such as this one, given that a larger and more involved New England tournament calendar is a short-term goal of many people in the region. Was there a need for more contact? Is this too far for Massachusetts teams to travel, or did the simultaneously-scheduled History Bowl drag away the prospective teams from that state? Is it because no one in NY/NJ was using this HSAPQ set?
Hanover might have made the drive down were the pre-holiday tournament in Vermont (the PHAT) not scheduled the Friday before this. Northampton MA also drove to the PHAT, but that doesn't account for the entire dearth of New England teams.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by Adventure Temple Trail »

GrahamReid wrote:I certainly agree with Matt about the single elimination play-offs. I think the solution Matt purposed is probably best, but there are other options. Kevin Commo, a prominent tournament director in Vermont, deals with this by taking a single elimination bracket and having the losers play each other. This is certainly an improvement over a true single elimination format, (because every team gets to play in all the rounds) but it does share some issues with single elimination play-offs. I'm going to post about that in the PHAT thread if anyone's interested.
I can sort of understand why this might be necessary for a 48-team tournament that only has 12 packets to work with (even then I'd want to devise another solution and use single-elim as an absolute last resort), but single elimination is basically a bad quizbowl practice at this point, and even this modification doesn't prevent the tournament from eliminating teams from finals contention based on a single loss. There's simply no reason to do single elimination at all for a tournament this small, nor is any modification of it worth suggesting when better alternatives are out there. It's eminently possible to ensure that every team plays meaningful (i.e. placement-determining) games all day if the middle and bottom two teams from each bracket also play crossover games in the same method as I proposed for the top bracket, and it's only proper to offer all teams games all day if physically possible given that they all paid an equal amount to attend. I don't see any reasonable argument opposing my proposal. Better formats in this vein exist off the top of my head for touraments of up to 36 teams and with some creativity it's probably possible to avoid single elimination for even larger fields.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by a bird »

Matt's right that that format isn't really a meaningful alternative. I only mentioned it because I saw this post as I was thinking about the PHAT format (again, I'll talk more about that format in the PHAT thread). Matt's proposal is the way to go for this field, and I agree that single elimination is pretty much the worst choice for playoff formats, and its derivatives are not much better. I'm sorry for any confusion I caused.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by jacquirenee »

Just to clarify, our tournament had a top 8 single-elimination bracket, with consolation rounds for everyone (round robins for bottom 10 and consolations for losers in elimination). This was done to accommodate the time concerns of teams who traveled from far away after a slow start to the morning, and to allow the top teams to have a meaningful chance to play the other top teams in only 3 post-prelim rounds.

That being said, I appreciate the input. I'm just not sure how appropriate it is to discuss this in this thread, since the tournament is over. Since we're trying hard to build Quiz Bowl in New England, find more hosts, and interest more teams in playing, it seems like we'd want to avoid publicly shaming people. I don't think this is something I'd want to do again, but I really hope other people will be able to take up the cause and provide opportunities for my team to play in the area going forward.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by Adventure Temple Trail »

Coach Kaplan, just to be clear I certainly don't intend to publicly shame you or your team's efforts, and I have nothing but gratitude that Newtown was willing to host this event. I certainly think we get along quite well and I never intended to jeopardize that or disrespect your effort in any way. If the schedule was in any way a result of my personal failure to provide scheduling advice in advance, I apologize for that as well.

If people would rather split off this thread and discuss single elimination in general rather than at this event, which I think is totally fair, I request that the moderators split the discussion off.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by Matt Weiner »

jacquirenee wrote: Since we're trying hard to build Quiz Bowl in New England, find more hosts, and interest more teams in playing, it seems like we'd want to avoid publicly shaming people.
Hi: This is not an appropriate response to your tournament being discussed on the boards; please do not tell people not to discuss things (by characterizing very polite constructive criticism as the Internet boogeyman "shaming", or in any other fashion) as it is against the rules of this board. Thanks, and I hope you run more tournaments.
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Re: Newtown HS Quiz Bowl Invitational (12/8/12 Newtown, CT)

Post by Edward Powers »

To respond to a question Matt asked earlier concerning NY/NJ teams traveling out of their region to Newtown. I cannot speak for other NY/NJ teams, but the key reason SJHS went was precisely because of the HSAPQ Set. We have not heard one in NY/NJ in over a year, I believe, so that was our motivation. We certainly had no desire to crowd out New England teams, and if we thought we were doing that, we would have stayed home, despite the allure of playing an HSAPQ Set.
Ed Powers
Coach
SJHS Academic Team
Metuchen, NJ
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