QUIZ BOWL NEWS
FOR
2002 - 2003 YEAR
COMMENTS ON RECENT TOURNAMENTS & EVENTS
March 9, 2002 - Putnam City West HS - Oklahoma City
This tournament gave our many Freshmen and Sophomores a chance to shine -- and that they did!
Our 'A' team consisting of John Davies, Alex McCann, and Robert Cenzon swept thru the tournament without any losses. Their 1st place victory came over Drummond HS in the finals.
Our 'B' team had a great set of morning rounds. Adrian Bower, Joey Picca, Daniel Mitura, and Martin Bourqui had some great games and ended up being seeded # 3 for the afternoon rounds. In a bit of bad luck, they lost to our 'C' team in the first afternoon match on a 60-second round based on Lord of the Rings. Their excellent playing in the tournament is a good sign for the future.
Our 'C' team was kind of the Cinderella team. After a bad morning loss, they came back to win two games in exciting fashion. Colin Leatherbury answered the game-winning question in what was a triple, sudden-death situation! While seeded # 6 for the afternoon rounds, they played our 'B' team and managed a solid win aided by Matt Hess' knowledge of Lord of the Rings. Matt and Colin were helped by Josh Hughes and Matt Brnicky.
All in all, it was a superb tournament finishing with a 1st, a tie for 3rd, and a tie for 5th!
February 2, 2002 - Temple, Texas - TOAST Tournament
With 2 JV and 2 Varsity teams, CPS played a lot of good games, but we also had a lot of bad luck. The best performances were turned in by our JV 'A' team whose members were Adrian Bower, Brian Mitchell, James Edwards [all Sophomores!] and Daniel Mitura [Freshman!]. They powered their way into the FINALS, losing
a good game to Clear Lake HS JV 'A'.
January 19, 2002 - Texas A & M NAQT High School Tournament
What had the potential for being a tough tournament due to some key players' absences, still managed to work out for CPS.
As the ONLY school to enter THREE/3 teams, I felt that the strength of our program was shown BEFORE we set foot on sacred Aggie soil.
Our 'B' and 'C' teams all managed to win some tough matches, even though they did not qualify for the afternoon rounds. Playing against students with 2 to 3 years MORE experience is very hard, and these guys acquitted themselves well. This troop of players included the following: Robert Reagan (VII), Robert Cenzon (VI), James Edwards (VI), Adrian Bower (VI), Daniel Mitura (V), Martin Bourqui (V), Tony List (V), Mathew Brnicky (V), Josh Hughes (V), and Peter Koutsogeorgas.
I particularly loved the fact that our 'C' team held the nationally-ranked team of St. John's to a 10-point differential in the first half of the very first game of the day! We had'em scared for a while!
Our 'A' team was made up of 3 Juniors - Bayard Friedman, Guy Krug, Mukund Ramkumar - along w. Sopho- more, John Davies. They racked up an impressive 6 - 2 record in the prelims - thus, being 1 of 6 teams to advance to the championship rounds. Unfortunately, some bad bonus questions caused us to lose some games we might have otherwise won, but a 4th place finish is still pretty good.
John Davies was the # 1 ranked player in the tournament for the 8 prelim rounds, scoring an average of 45 toss up points per game! Congrats to him.
We had great Mom-Supporters: Mrs. Friedman, Mrs. Hughes, Mrs. Davies, Mrs. Bower, Mrs. Mitura, and Mrs. Koutsogeorgas. The Listi and Reagan families also came to watch the competition.
Professor Jan Swearingen [Ben, Class of 1998] is now on the faculty at A & M - she came and watched us play as well.
It was, all in all, a good experience for us.
Knowledge Masters Open -Dec. 1st and 2nd
We had two wonderful KMO performances on Saturday and Sunday! The Middle School had almost 35 (!) guys come out to score an impressive 1514 points while answering 192 of 200 questions correctly. The Upper School's much smaller contingent of 15 players had a superlative score of 1664 [one of the best we've ever had!] while answering an incredible 198 of 200 questions correctly.
The Middle School ranked FIRST in Texas, 13th nationally, and 2nd among all small schools nationally.
The Upper School ranked 3rd in Texas, 26th nationally, and FIRST among all small schools, nationally.
Final results may be found on www.greatauk.com after Dec. 6, 2001.
November 17th Tournament at Norman, Oklahoma
We LOVE Boren CUP XII -- and it loved Us!
A huge team of guys went up to Norman for Boren XII and all three teams had winning records. While the weather was lousy, and some vandals punctured a van tire [yes!] we had 3 great teams. Jamie Holland captained with Brian Holland, Robert Cenzon, Joey Picca, & Matt Hess. Our second team was led by Alec Kemp along with Nathan Jackson, Stephen Whittington & Adrian Bower. And, Bayard Friedman captained a team with Mukund Ramkumar, Guy Krug, James Edwards, & Daniel Mitura.
Jamie Holland was a HIGH POINT trophy winner.
Our team of Friedman, Krug, Ramkumar, Edwards, and Mitura went all the way to the Semi's.
It was a great tournament, except for the vandalized tire -- and the tournament went FAR TOO LONG!
University of Arkansas High School Tourney - Fayetteville, Arkansas -
Our Oct. 20 tournament in Fayetteville was our first out-of-town foray, and the results were pretty good. Apart from a flat tire in Atoka, Oklahoma [And, yes, the local folk were VERY helpful!] the trip was great and the fall foliage in the Ozarks was spectacular.
But, enough travelogue -- here are results.
Our Varsity team of Brian & Jamie Holland, John Davies, and Mukund Ramkumar finished the day with a 5 wins v. 1 loss record, taking them into the Semi's. A close game w. Southside knocked us out.
Our 'B' team consisted of James Edwards, Daniel Mitura, Matt Hess, and Matthew Brnicky. They had the disadvantage of having to play in the Varsity tournament against Juniors and Seniors. Although their record was 1 win v. 3 losses, the win came in the last game -- and it was so sweet!
Special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Mitura, Mr. and Mrs. Brnicky, and Mrs. Chris Edwards - our DRIVERS!