Tusculum Earlybird in Greeneville, TN (10-7-2023)

[TusculumPearson]

This is the formal announcement and invitation of teams to the second annual (!) Tusculum Earlybird, a high school novice-level quizbowl tournament to be held at the Meen Center at Tusculum University on October 7, 2023.

This event is made possible through the support of Tusculum University Admissions and the College of Science, Technology and Mathematics at Tusculum, and through that support we’re able to make free registration and lunch available to one team per school who attends.

Further information below, or move ahead with registration:
<https://forms.gle/WJLKpkrSrYM7Lt6P6>

SET
The tournament will be contested at two levels: an upper division for experienced teams targeting higher levels of competition and PACE NSC nationals berths, and a JV/novice division for younger and less experienced teams. Our target is to make the tournament as friendly as possible for both returning experienced teams and novice, first-time and JV teams.

We will contest the upper division on Planetfall, the regular-level set produced by the University School of Nashville team and head-edited by Eric Mukherjee and Jacob O’Rourke. (This will be the same set that USN will use for the Battle of Edgehill the previous week in Nashville; be aware we’ll keep our eye on registration for both events.) We thank everybody associated with USN for the support in using Planetfall.

We will contest the JV/novice division on QUAOAR, the novice-level successor to ERIS and MAKEMAKE coordinated by Conor Thompson. We thank Conor and his team of writers for making QUAOAR available.

FEE (OR LACK THEREOF)
Because of the support of the College of STeM, every school attending this tournament may register one team free of charge. If that school intends to register additional teams, the fee will be $80 for each team.

Because of the support of Admissions, all tournament participants (four players and one coach per team) will also receive a picnic box lunch on-campus (we’ll clarify contents at a later date; options for vegetarian participants will be available).

STAFF DISCOUNTS
Because of the nature of the fee structure for this tournament, there is no expectation that schools bringing a single team to this tournament will supply staff to support the running of the tournament. (We are happy to have support staff from schools bringing only one team, but we have no discounts that we can offer on zero fee.)

If a school does bring a second team or beyond, that school will be expected to provide support of one sort or another. We will provide a discount of $10 on the fee for each experienced staffer a school provides to the tournament (max $20 discount for staffers per team).

We will also consider discounts for buzzer systems as well.

The minimum fee for each additional team beyond the first from a given school registered is $60 if discounts are maximized.

We ask for staffers to register to participate, and we have a dedicated staffer registration form <https://forms.gle/MPFQMMftMuYY2kkf8>.

PRIZES
No trophies! There will be book prizes for top scorers (overall and JV), for the top two teams overall, and for the top two JV teams.

CONTACT
The tournament director of Tusculum Earlybird is Chuck Pearson; questions about the structure of the tournament or about staffing realities can be directed to <[email protected]>.

This tournament receives active support from Tusculum University Admissions; questions about directions to campus, food, or being on the Tusculum campus on the day of the competition can be directed to Jacob Cutshall <[email protected]>.

REGISTER NOW
<https://forms.gle/WJLKpkrSrYM7Lt6P6>

DISCLAIMERS
Some information is subject to change; if changes occur, they will be communicated to registered coaches directly.

And, as always, in the words of the genial quizmaster, all decisions of the tournament director are arbitrary, capricious, and final.

We look forward to the East Tennessee launch of the quizbowl season in Greeneville on October 7. Come join us.

[TusculumPearson]

This is what we expect will be our final field update, as of October 3:

Upper Division
Northmont (OH) (1 team, 1 buzzer, no staffers)
Gate City (VA) (1 team, 1 buzzer, multiple staffers)
Gallatin (TN) (1 team, multiple buzzers, 1 staffer)
(Wise County) Central (VA) (1 team, no buzzer, no staffers)
Eastern Montgomery (VA) (1 team, two buzzer, no staffers)
Ridgeview (VA) (1 team, one buzzer, 1 staffer)
Blacksburg (VA) (1 team, two buzzers, no staffers)
Richlands (VA) (1 team, no buzzers, 1 staffer)

Novice/JV division
Gate City (VA) (1 team)
Southside (SC) (2 teams, 1 buzzer, 1 staffer)
Union (VA) (1 team)
Ridgeview (VA) (2 teams)
J. Frank White (TN) (1 team, 1 buzzer, no staffers)
Jefferson Couty (TN) (1 team, 1 buzzer, no staffers)
Cookeville (TN) (2 teams, 1 buzzer, 1 staffer)

We'll still update if there is a radical change, but for most news...see below.

[Lookb4u]

What time does the competition start?

User was reminded to enable a signature. --Mgmt.

[TusculumPearson]

Updates coming in comprehensively next week. But: we open the doors of the Meen Center at 815 AM for a 900 AM general meeting and a 930 AM start to matches.

We'll take this as a bump for field updates - there's been a LOT of flux in the field, but we're starting to have a substantial tournament take shape with a GREAT field. Still seats available, still need some good readers and scorekeepers to help!

[TusculumPearson]

We’re looking forward to a great tournament on Saturday!

Here is our standard pre-tournament update. It may look vaguely similar to last year’s!

PARKING
We expect the building to be open and available for us from 815 AM. Our mass meeting room will be Meen Center 007. Google Maps responds well to a mapping of 35 Shiloh Road, Greeneville for the location of the parking lot you should be aiming for to place yourself in the proximity of the Meen Center; you might fare well also searching for Pioneer Park, the baseball stadium next door to the Meen Center.

The Meen Center is surrounded by parking on the west and south sides. Signs will direct you to the primary ground floor entrance, although the secondary entrance will put you directly in 007.

SCHEDULE AND REGISTRATION
On Saturday we will be registering teams between 815 and 900 AM, and we will plan for our general meeting and rules Q&A at 900 AM, with first games at 930 AM. Please plan to be present by 900 AM. (Coaches and staffers, there will be coffee and morning snacks available in Tournament HQ in Meen 114 at 815 AM. You’re welcome to help yourself. There will be water bottles available for everyone else.)

Current schedule models for the tournament plan five rounds before lunch with lunch break roughly at 1230 PM. My HOPE is to have two additional rounds of gameplay after lunch, reconvene in Meen 007 for individual awards, and then contest whatever playoffs are necessary or whatever fun rounds teams would like to play within their bracket.

We’re pretty confident in the field we have for Saturday, but we’re not as confident in your rosters. Especially if you registered early with incomplete rosters, please go back to the registration form <https://forms.gle/WJLKpkrSrYM7Lt6P6> and enter in your team’s status so we can start getting stats books assembled and make final arrangements for food. We’re always happy to have revised team rosters and to be working with the best possible information ahead of Saturday.

ONE MORE DISCLAIMER/REMINDER
Each school is getting one team registered for free with the support of Tusculum University Admissions and Tusculum’s College of Science, Technology and Mathematics. This is an admissions event. There might even be an admissions pitch from the institution. We are enthusiastic about having your students on campus and in the Meen Center because we think this is a place they might want to attend for their college education.

THANK YOU
I’m always appreciative of the communication coaches provide and the support of the quizbowl community at large. As has become custom, so many coaches and team supporters have stepped up to make sure this event is fully staffed. Those efforts are so valuable to us; so many of the coaches of this region do so much so thanklessly. Those efforts need to be acknowledged.

Two years ago, we canceled this event and canceled it again as we navigated the depths of the pandemic. This year, we’re thrilled to be preparing the Second Annual. Thanks to all of you for making this happen.

[TusculumPearson]

Honors and gratitude from the second annual Tusculum Earlybird:

Congratulations to Northmont (OH; Ave Rieger, Ethan Karl, Kevin Adler, Russell Dillak), who won an advantaged final over Ridgeview A (VA; David Farmer, Daniel Greear, Landon Couch) to claim the upper division title of Earlybird on a perfect 8-0 record. Blacksburg (VA) was third.

Congratulations to Cookeville A (Daniel Slater, Raymond Yang, Joshua Sasser) for their perfect 7-0 record and their victory over Union (VA; Chloe Holding, Sean Pan, Bryant Cole, Byron Cole, Pyper Smith) to claim the novice division title. Jefferson County was third in that division.

Individual honors were made at the conclusion of the round-robin stage for each division. Errors were made in the announcement awarding of Top 8 scorers in the upper division. The correct order of top scorers was Connor Ketron (Gate City A, VA), Malachi Ledford (Central, VA) Ave Rieger (Northmont), Ethan Ririe (Blacksburg), Daniel Greear (Ridgeview), Collin Holt (Blacksburg), Gareth Turner (Gallatin), and Ethan Karl (Northmont). Holt was not acknowledged in the announcement at the end of the tournament day and will get a substitute book prize. Because of this error, Drew Wright (Gallatin) claimed a 9th place book prize for his efforts.

The final standings for the upper division, including the advantaged final, are now available.

No such errors were made in the Top 8 in the novice division. Those top scorers: Daniel Slater (Cookeville A), Brooke Swallows (Cookeville/Gallatin chimera), Seamus Corbett (Southside A, SC), Tyger Moore (Ridgeview B), Troy Ellison (J. Frank White), Gideon Nickels (Gate City B), Zack Matheny (Jefferson County), and Daniel Alfred (Southside B, breaking a tie with Sean Pan of Union on correct tossups).

Novice division statistics are available for the morning group round-robin and for the playoff stage. (ETA: We've got the stats entered from the crossovers in the morning, and we now have a page for all games played.)

Any quizbowl tournament is only as good as its staff, and the staff for Earlybird was wonderful. Dylan Cox, McKenzie Sykes, Abigail Sykes, Dominic Reynolds, Danny Tran, Sam Matson, and Cassie Adkins served capably in the upper division; Chris Hale, William Barnes, Sydney Vaughn, Brody Buchanan, and Brian Corbett were staffers in the novice division, alongside Tusculum student Haley Gibson, Tusculum staff Lisa Chiapputo and Laura Carr, and Tusculum faculty Peter Noll and Walter Wimberly.

Thanks and congratulations to Eric Mukherjee and the University School of Nashville for their Planetfall set used by the upper division, and to Conor Thompson and his writers for the QUAOAR set used by the novice division.

The cost of the questions and the fees for first teams from all high schools was covered by the College of Science, Technology and Mathematics at Tusculum; thanks to dean Heather Henson-Ramsey for her support.

The costs of lunch were covered by Tusculum University Admissions; thanks to VP of Enrollment Management Jake Fait and Executive Director of Admissions Jacob Cutshall for their support of the event, and thanks to Josh Renner for his presence to welcome teams this morning. And special thanks to the President of Tusculum University, Dr. Scott Hummel, for his presence and the welcome to campus he provided us all.

We were delighted to host all of you. We hope you’ll return to the Tusculum campus in the future.