Great Lakes Regional Academic Championship (4/12/08) at CWRU

[swwFCqb]

I am proud to announce that Case Western Reserve University will be hosting its revamped Great Lakes Regional Academic Championship on April 12th, 2008 in the safe, clean, and lovely city of Cleveland, Ohio. We will be returning to PACE-format this year, with a reduced set of 22 questions, and the tournament will be a qualifier for the PACE National tournament, being held at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia from May 31 – June 1, 2008.

The tournament will run as such: There will be no separate JV tournament; “B” teams will be placed alongside “A” teams. Teams will be divided into groups of six and play a round robin within their groups. All teams will then be seeded and the top half of the field will be put into a single elimination championship bracket while the bottom half will be put into a single elimination consolation bracket. Therefore, every team will be guaranteed 6 games. Awards will be given to the top four teams in the championship bracket and top two in the consolation bracket. Awards will also be given to the top 3 individual scorers, who will be determined based on their performance in the first 5 rounds.

Registration will be limited to the first 24 teams (with a max of two teams per school), with any subsequent teams being put on a waiting list in case any others drop out. In case we do not meet our quota and there are no schools on the waiting list, then a school may be allowed to bring a 3rd team on a first come, first serve basis. I highly recommend that if you are interested in attending then you should register as soon as possible in order to ensure a spot.

Cost:
Teams: $60 for first; $40 for second
Buzzers: -$5 per functional buzzer system (discount max: 2 per team, but please bring more if available)
Reader/Moderator: -$5 per competent staff member (discount max: 2 per team)
Travel Discount: -$5/team for traveling > 100 mi. one way; -$10/team for traveling > 200 mi. one way
(as determined by Mapquest from your school’s address to Case Western)

Minimum fee per team: $30

*If you did not recieve the official e-mail that I sent out and are interested in coming, then please post and I will get the official e-mail sent out to you as soon as possible with the registration form included in it.

I am well aware that in the past several years, the tournaments hosted by Case have been poorly run and badly managed, resulting in dwindling attendance and a poor reputation. I also realize that due to this fact, it will be hard to earn the trust of many of you after all of the bad experiences that you have either went through personally or heard about from others, but I promise you that I am committed to turning this program around and getting not only this tournament, but all of our tournaments, back to the prestige that they had years ago. As a former high school player and current collegiate player, I understand the frustration that a poorly run tournament can cause both players and coaches, and with the help of locals such as Brian Saxton, Greg Bossick, Mike Bindis, and others, I feel that Case can host an organized, well-run, and fun tournament that will rival not only the best tournaments in Ohio, but also the best tournaments in the region and country as well. I do hope all of you consider coming, and I look forward to seeing many of you on campus come April.

-Steven Wellstead

[BobGHHS]

For those of you that don't know Steven, I just want to vouch for him and say that he will do a spectacular job running this tournament. He has the help of numerous local tournament directors such as myself, Greg Bossick, Brian Saxton, Justin Sharp and Mike Bindis and as a player, his teams were highly successful at both local tournaments and out-of-state tournaments. He knows what it takes to run a successful tournament and if you are within driving distance, I would definitely recommend making the trip. Plus, he'll be using Matt's set of PACE questions so the set will be much, much better than most or all seen in Ohio this year.

[PaladinQB]

Allow me to join the chorus of "you should come to this tournament." I believe strongly that this version of GLRAC is going to be closer to the de Jesus, Chuck, and Manzuk glory days of this tournament than the relatively disappointing efforts of the past few years.

A number of NE Ohio residents with long experience in the game have committed to helping CWRU put on a successful tournament. In addition, the questions are being provided by a group of people who have a long history of providing excellent questions to the high school game.

This tournament should represent an excellent warm-up for state and national championships, and a chance to play some good games against high-quality competition.

Brian M. Saxton

[First Chairman]

And just to verify... this tournament will use the Weiner set of PACE questions, which are also being distributed to various college campus-run high school events (and maybe a couple of high school program-run events?). I hope this will be a solid set to prepare for nationals, especially the NSC.

[swwFCqb]

Field Update (as of 4/2/2008):

Confirmed:
Garfield Heights (2)
Northmont (1)
St. Ignatius (2)
Solon (2)
Hudson (2)
Stow Monroe Falls (2)
Euclid (2)
Olmsted Falls (1)
Kenston (1)
St. John's (2)
Richmond Heights (1)
Brush (3)
Detroit Country Day (MI) (1)
Russell (KY) (1)

Total Teams: 23

[David Riley]

Steven--please send us an invite c/o [email protected]

Thanmks!

David Riley
Scholastic Bowl Coach
Wilmette IL

[swwFCqb]

The field has been updated, showing both teams that are confirmed as coming as well as those that have expressed interest in coming. I would love to get a very competitive and diverse field, so I will encourage any out of state teams, especially those that made the trip to Solon last weekend (Culver, DCC, Russell), to please consider coming. The tournament WILL be much better run than in past years and I don't think you will go home with any regrets. If you are interested, please email me at either [email protected] or [email protected] or post here on the board. Thank you.

[ejurkiewicz]

I am interested in entering our team in your tournament. Please send me a registration form.
Eugene Jurkiewicz
Quiz Bowl Coach
Detroit Country Day School
22305 W. 13 Mile Road
Beverly Hills, MI 48025
[email protected]
(248) 626-4941

[swwFCqb]

We still have four (4) spots left and I would love to get them filled as soon as possible. Let me remind you that this is a PACE NSC qualifying event, so this would be a great chance for any unqualified team to qualify for a great national tournament. Please contact me at [email protected] if interested.

-Steven Wellstead