Masonics 2015

[Stained Diviner]

The Masonics Tournament will start this Saturday.

One issue to be aware of is that at least one site is being delayed a week due to weather. (It might be only one site in a part of the state that typically does not get much snow. Almost all sites will run this week.) Because of this, it is very important to not discuss individual questions on any part of the internet, including social media and this site, for a week. All of the questions, Sectionals and State, will be posted after the State Tournament. Discussions of individual questions are fine as long as you wait one week to discuss Sectional questions.

This year, I wrote the math and science and some of the history at State, Charlie Dees wrote the fine arts, and Donald Taylor wrote everything else. I was the head editor of Sectionals, and Jonah Greenthal and I jointly edited State. Feedback is welcome as long as you follow the caveat above. (If you don't, feedback will be very unwelcome.)

The official website of the tournament, which contains sectional assignments and will contains results, is here.

[dtaylor4]

It has been indicated to me that Dale himself emailed the hosts indicating the above caveat. I plan on bringing it up again tomorrow at the sectional I am reading at (Blue Ridge), and I don't think it would hurt for those of us who know better to stress it in our respective coaches' meetings as well.

[mhasquin]

I received this email from O'Fallon this morning:

Due to the weather that is forecasted throughout the weekend and the road conditions that will be created, the Masonic Bowl for Site #30 at O'Fallon will be rescheduled to Saturday 2/28.

[dtaylor4]

From the website: Greenville, O'Fallon, Mahomet-Seymour, Springfield, and Cobden have all been delayed. The central part of the state is under a winter storm warning until tomorrow night, so districts are being cautious.

[mhasquin]

Just received the notice that Carlinville has postponed until next Saturday due to the weather.

[dtaylor4]

Soooooo, 10 sectionals delayed due to weather. Eight re-scheduled for the 28th, with Riverton and Greenville still unsure.

Up at the northern end, I can say that the roads when I left were manageable for me in my car, but not for an activity bus.

[remake20]

Anyone know the Fremd/Auburn score? That's quite an upset.

[Harpie's Feather Duster]

360-280, apparently.

[the return of AHAN]

360-280, apparently.

Confirmed. I moderated that match. Auburn jumped on the 1st two toss-ups, but Fremd took 3 of the next 4. Back and forth with bonus sweeps until the 1st bonus, wherein Fremd stole 2 (I think) parts, and, from that point, Auburn just could not catch up as Fremd never yielded a single bonus part. The gap widened when Fremd stole more parts on another bonus in round 4, and, that was the difference, by my recollection. They split the toss-ups, 8-8. Maybe I'm misremembering the score, as I had a scorekeeper and tried not to focus on the score and tried to focus on not screwing up what was certainly worthy of a state championship match. Both teams were extremely impressive, and no one should consider Fremd beating anyone an upset.

References to question category placement were removed due to the request of one of the set's writers - the Staff.

[Coach G]

In the interests of accuracy. . .the score was 350 -270, the two teams combining to score 620 out of the 640 points available - two bonus parts were not converted by either team. Jeff, you are right that they went 8 - 8 on the tossups, so the difference was in the bonuses. Fremd missed just two parts on the bonuses it controlled (Auburn picked up one of them), but Auburn had trouble on two bonuses in one particular subject, and Fremd was able to capitalize on that.
In the Masonic format - meaning this subject distribution, alternating bonuses that aren't always equal in difficulty (I know the question writers do their best to make them equal and this is not meant to be critical of them - it's just a matter of luck/a good or bad break sometimes), only 16 toss-up questions, and the general level of difficulty of the questions, the Masonic tournament results are not always what they might be in a different format. Remember that last year Fremd, with pretty much the same team members as it has this year, "upset" Stevenson at the Masonic State Tournament. Fremd played better than Auburn on the round 7 packet of questions last Saturday and is certainly deserving of its victory. Watch out for them at State.

[remake20]

My apologies if it sounded like I was undermining Fremd, bashing Auburn, or anything else of the sort. I know both are excellent teams and, seeing the results, was curious on how it happened. "Quite an upset" probably were not the words I was looking for.

[the return of AHAN]

Andrew, your perspective was probably colored by the fact that Auburn is competing for IHSA state titles on an annual basis, while Fremd's last IHSA title* happened when you were in, what? 3rd grade? But Fremd is always a force to be reckoned with in the northwest suburbs (winning the 12-team Mid-Suburban League more often than not in my time here). They've simply been getting shadowed, quite a bit, by nearby Stevenson. Also, it's worth noting that Fremd came really close to claiming the Masonic state title last year, only falling to IMSA in the end; probably the one team in the state that can consistently stand toe-to-toe with Fremd on math questions.

*^ - EDIT: By title, I mean state championship. Fremd also qualified for state in 2013, FWIW.

[dtaylor4]

Masonic prognostication!

1A: Elmwood, KCD, Blue Ridge will all make top 4 unless they're stacked into the same bracket.
2A: U-Lab is the team to beat, and Macomb or Litchfield are the only teams that could.
3A: A team that took a prelim loss will win the title. Bold prediction: both brackets will have a relevant record tie of some sort.

[heterodyne]

2A: U-Lab is the team to beat, and Macomb or Litchfield are the only teams that could.

Not too sure about this. Newman CC is the highest ranked team in that division, and having played or seen play all of the teams you mentioned, I feel confident in saying that they are the favorite going in. Of course, it's masonic, so ~anything can happen~, but it seems like an oversight not to even mention them.

[remake20]

2A: U-Lab is the team to beat, and Macomb or Litchfield are the only teams that could.

Not too sure about this. Newman CC is the highest ranked team in that division, and having played or seen play all of the teams you mentioned, I feel confident in saying that they are the favorite going in. Of course, it's masonic, so ~anything can happen~, but it seems like an oversight not to even mention them.

Latin is actually ranked higher, but just barely. I have to give the advantage to these two. In my opinion, they are a solid step ahead of the rest of the teams in 2A. U-Lab/Macomb is my bet for third/forth, but we'll see how the pools get assigned.

[heterodyne]

Latin is actually ranked higher, but just barely. I have to give the advantage to these two. In my opinion, they are a solid step ahead of the rest of the teams in 2A. U-Lab/Macomb is my bet for third/forth, but we'll see how the pools get assigned.

Welp, in my hurry to remember a major team I forgot a major team. Oh well. Pooling will almost certainly be murky, because Masonics.

[Irreligion in Bangladesh]

Congratulations to everyone who played at Masonic State! Here are the results:

Class 1A:
Champs : Casey-Westfield
2nd: Port Byron Riverdale
3rd: Keith Country Day
4th: Blue Ridge

Class 2A:
Champs: Sterling Newman
2nd: Macomb
3rd: Latin
4th: Urbana Uni

Class 3A:
Champs: IMSA
2nd: Bloomington
3rd: Fremd
4th: Stevenson

[Stained Diviner]

Congrats to the many teams that played well yesterday. A lot of congrats and thanks are owed to Dale Thayer, who was able to run the tournament despite many weather-related sectional delays.

The questions are in the archives.