VARSITY FINALS ENDS IN OVERTIME!

Here are the Champs

Victor Zhou
Rena Hollister
Anna Olteanu
Owen Sibinga

The championship contest for the first time ever featured two teams from the same county – Westchester County, NY.  For the second consecutive year, a first-timer played in the finals, in this case Eastchester High (Holton-Arms MD won it all in 2022).  In fact, five of the eight quarterfinalists and three of the four semifinalists were Westchester teams!  Eastchester entered the playoffs ranked No. 4 and then defeated Sparkman (AL) 410-215, Clinton (SC) 420-230, John Cooper (TX) 385-235, and New Orleans Jesuit 380-340.  Meanwhile, Horace Greeley beat Little Rock Central (AR) 480-285, Scarsdale (NY) 425-265, and another Westchester County team, Hastings, 380-315.

The championship game

STRAVINSKY

(5) There was a riot at the 1913 Paris opening of which Stravinsky ballet?

Ans. The Rite of Spring

(10) In this other Stravinsky ballet, the title character is a puppet who falls in love with a Ballerina, but the Ballerina loves the Moor instead, creating a love triangle with a fatal ending.

Ans. Petrushka

(15) Both of these ballets were commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev, founder of what ballet company?

Ans. Ballets Russes [bal-ay roos]

He theorized a pyramid, with the “physiological” level at the bottom, which comprises ideas like eating and breathing.

5) Name this psychologist whose hierarchy of needs rated those physiological factors the lowest, at the bottom of the pyramid.

Ans. Abraham Maslow

10) This is the highest level on the hierarchy of needs, the desire to accomplish all that you can and unleash all your potential.

Ans. Self-actualization

(15) In a paper titled “A Theory of Human ____,” Maslow explained his pyramid. The word “personality” was linked with what same concept in the book’s title?

Ans. Motivation

Eastchester, however, swept a Trigonometry bonus and led at halftime, 155-145.

In the “Seventy Seconds Round,” Horace Greeley advanced 70-0 on their category, FIGURES OF SPEECH. Eastchester advanced 90-10 on their choice, COMPOUNDS, and led 245-225 going into the final period.

“Stump the Experts” started with Eastchester recognizing “Habanera” from Bizet’s opera Carmen. The two teams then answered these Matching questions correctly:

Horace Greeley/ MATCHING Match the following art museums with their respective cities. MUSEUMS: The Cloisters, Uffizi, Prado, Rijksmuseum, Hermitage. CITIES: St. Petersburg, Amsterdam, Florence, Madrid, New York.

Ans. Cloisters–New York, Uffizi–Florence, Prado–Madrid, Rijksmuseum–Amsterdam, Hermitage–St. Petersburg

Eastchester/ MATCHING Match these medicines – calamine, digitalis, insulin, quinine, albuterol – with these maladies – diabetes, heart disorder, bronchospasm, malaria, skin inflammation.

Ans. Calamine, skin inflammation; digitalis, heart disorder; insulin, diabetes; quinine, malaria; albuterol, bronchospasm

Horace Greeley then tied it up after stealing Eastchester’s NAVAL HISTORY question and then answering theirs correctly: Eastchester/ NAVAL HISTORY In 1995, the Electric Boat Company unveiled a new submarine designed to locate and destroy enemy ballistic missile submarines. Name this class of subs.

Ans. Seawolf

Horace Greeley/ NAVAL HISTORY In the 18th century, what kind of gangs consisted of sailors licensed by the government to capture men and force them to serve in the British navy?

Ans. Press gangs

Both teams impressed us with their knowledge of poetry:

Horace Greeley/ POETRY Give me either the name of the poet or the title of the poem in which we read in the sixth and final canto: “Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, / Who never to himself hath said: / “This is my own, my native land!”

Ans. Sir Walter Scott, “The Lay of the Last Minstrel”

Eastchester/ POETRY While crossing the Mississippi at age 17, Langston Hughes wrote what poem that names the Euphrates, Congo, and Nile?

Ans. “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”

Eastchester retook the lead on a Religion question: HINDUISM Which god wears a crescent moon and the Ganges River as ornaments in his hair and a wreath of skulls and a snake around his neck?

Ans. Shiva

They led by 40 after a Triangle problem.

But Horace Greeley stole this question from Eastchester:

POLITICS House Republicans voted to take Representative Ilhan Omar from which committee, criticizing her past remarks about Israel? Ans. Foreign Affairs
The final couplet featured Art questions. Nobody got Horace Greeley’s right …

Horace Greeley/ VISUAL … The artist who painted this woman’s portrait was the leading neoclassical painter of the early 1800s.  His insistence on detail is evident in this portrait.  Can you name him?

Ans. Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

We would have bet $10,000 nobody would get the last question of the Stump the Experts round: 

Eastchester/ VISUAL … He’s not Winslow Homer, but he is best known for his portrayals of the Maine seacoast. Here’s a good example, titled Maine Islands.  Name the artist.

But Horace Greeley knew it was John Marin, stealing the 20-pointer, resulting in a tie at 345-345. For the first time in 41 years, the Varsity finals went into overtime.   

Horace Greeley got the first overtime question right:

According to John McCrae’s poem, “In Flanders Fields,” what do the poppies blow between?

         Ans.  Crosses

Eastchester’s question:

He had great affection for his Long Island birthplace.  He published the “Centennial” collection of his poems in 1876.  The 1861 firing on Fort Sumter inspired him to write the poem, “Beat! Beat! Drums!”  Name the poet.

Walt Whitman was the answer, but no points were scored.  Horace Greeley won 350-345, becoming the only school to win the title three times.  (Irmo SC did it in 2002.)  Horace Greeley was the only one of our champions (Elementary, Middle School, JV, Varsity) to go undefeated, at 10-0.

Hastings

Always tough, Westchester County’s Hastings High advanced both teams to the quarterfinals, with the B team falling to New Orleans Jesuit 280-285, and the A team edging American School of Tegucigalpa 360-340 before defeat at the hands of Horace Greeley in the semifinals.

Rookie of the Year

Eastchester, taking the title game into overtime, wins the award. In addition, first-timer American School of Tegucigalpa (Honduras) advanced to the Quarterfinals and an American school from the Middle East, GEMS Dubai (UAE), advanced to the Octafinals. 

Scoring Leaders

We’re always interested in how a team’s points per game average correlates with their tournament final rank. Seldom does a given team win both.  In 2022, Edgemont (NY) finished No. 1 at 304.  This year’s champs, Horace Greeley, ranked No.1 in PPG as well, at 335.  This year’s runners-up, Eastchester, also ranked No. 2 in PPG, at 327.  New Orleans Jesuit came in third at 301, and Hastings fourth at 299.

John Cooper School

Evidence of an improving quality of Quiz Bowl in Texas, John Cooper School saw their JV team advance to the semifinals and their Varsity team to the “Sweet Sixteen.”

MVP

Horace Greeley showed the hallmarks of most of the great teams in NAC history: a great captain with a significant contribution from teammates.  Captain Owen Sibinga showed all the qualities of a great captain – listening to all suggestions of his teammates, relaying (in almost all cases) the correct answer to the moderator in timely fashion.  He earned this year’s MVP award.

 

Owen Sibinga

Coach of the Year

Kevin Yokum, elected to the Hall of Fame in 2014, has been named Coach of the year for leading one team to the JV finals and another to the Varsity semifinals.  He’s the only person to achieve both honors.

Kevin Yokum

Qualifying for 2024 Nationals

Keep in mind that all 2023 playoff teams have automatically qualified for NAC XLII. Return to QUnlimited.com in September, when information on any Saturday virtual tournaments and 3-2-1 events will be posted. We will also provide details on next year’s National Academic Championship.

Hall of Fame

  • Mike Keller (Irmo, SC, ’85-87)
  • Eric Evans (Granville, OH, ’88-89)
  • Jim Paluszak (Dorman, SC, ’89-91)
  • Matt Bruce (Booker T. Washington, OK, ’89-92)
  • Mark Staloff (East Brunswick, NJ, ’94)
  • Brad Rutter (Manheim Township, PA, ’92-95)
  • Brad Harris (James Island, SC, ’92-95)
  • Amanda Goad (Governor’s School, VA, ’93-96)
  • Scott Petty (Houston Eisenhower ’95 and Houston Memorial ’96)
  • Justin Powell (James Island, SC ’95-98)
  • Ryan Cooper (James Island, SC ’95-99)
  • Jonathan Hess (Irmo, SC, 1998-2002)
  • Sara Sheer (Horace Greeley, 2001-2004)
  • Matt Pargeter (Holland Hall, OK, 2002-2005)
  • Nate Mattison (Byram Hills, NY, 2004-2006
  • Fuhe Xu (Harrison, IN, 2004-2007)
  • Ariel Schneider (Harrison, IN, 2004-2007)
  • Dylan Hames (Booker T. Washington, OK, 2006-2008)
  • Alex Pijanowski (Harrison, IN, 2011-2013)
  • Max Smiley (Horace Greeley, 2013-2014)
  • Kevin Yokum (New Orleans Jesuit, 2013-2014)
  • Luke Minton (El Paso Coronado, 2013-2015)
  • Jaskaran Singh (Plano West, 2017-2018)
  • Brian Li (Pingry, 2020)
  • Maggie Brett-Major (Holton-Arms, 2022)

winners of our 40 tournaments

  • 1983 — Walt Whitman (Bethesda, MD)
  • 1984 — Wheelersburg (Wheelersburg, OH)
  • 1985 — Skyline (Dallas, TX)
  • 1986 — Irmo (Columbia, SC)
  • 1987 — Walnut Ridge (Columbus, OH)
  • 1988 — Eleanor Roosevelt (Greenbelt, MD)
  • 1989 — Dorman (Spartanburg, SC)
  • 1990 — Collegiate (Richmond, VA)
  • 1991 — Dorman (Spartanburg, SC)
  • 1992 — Booker T. Washington (Tulsa, OK)
  • 1993 — Torrey Pines (San Diego, CA)
  • 1994 — East Brunswick (NJ)
  • 1995 — Governor’s School (Richmond, VA)
  • 1996 — Houston Memorial (TX)
  • 1997 — Edison (Huntington Beach, CA)
  • 1998 — State College Area (PA)
  • 1999 — James Island (SC)
  • 2000 — Manheim Township (PA)
  • 2001 — Irmo (Columbia, SC)
  • 2002 — Irmo (Columbia, SC)
  • 2003 — Horace Greeley (Chappaqua, NY)
  • 2004 — St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN)
  • 2005 — Holland Hall (Tulsa, OK)
  • 2006 — Byram Hills (Armonk, NY)
  • 2007 — Harrison (West Lafayette, IN)
  • 2008 — Booker T. Washington (Tulsa, OK)
  • 2009 — John Cooper (The Woodlands, TX)
  • 2010 — Zionsville (Zionsville, IN)
  • 2011 — Harrison (West Lafayette, IN)
  • 2012 — University of Detroit Jesuit (MI)
  • 2013 — Horace Greeley (Chappaqua, NY)
  • 2014 — Jesuit (New Orleans, LA)
  • 2015 — Coronado (El Paso, TX)
  • 2016 — Daviess County (Owensboro, KY)
  • 2017 — Zionsville (Zionsville, IN
  • 2018 — Plano West (TX)
  • 2019 — University of Detroit Jesuit (MI)
  • 2020 — Pingry (Basking Ridge, NJ)
  • 2021 — Byram Hills (Armonk, NY)
  • 2022 — Holton-Arms (MD)
  • 2023 – Horace Greeley (Chappaqua, NY)
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