Minnesota 2023-3024

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arjunvivekraj21
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Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by arjunvivekraj21 »

Since the season is gonna be starting soon, and I am really excited and bored, I'm going to be starting the Minnesota discussion for 2024! This season is gonna be weird and fun since a ton of seniors and teams who were at the top of MNQB last year are gonna be graduation including, Irondale, Mounds Park, SPA and others! I'm gonna be ranking by tiers

The Crown

Wayzata A
Like pretty much for the past 5-10 years, Wayzata is gonna be at the top. With Nathan, Samarth, Aneesh and Rick graduating, Rushil, Richard, Nithin (and one more person not entirely sure about it) are gonna be on A. Rushil had a very impressive HSNCT performance and his generalism is great. Richard is an amazing science player and Nathan is a good player, however I don't know much about him compared to Richard and Rushil

The Rest
This season is so open so I'm just going to be taking guesses from this point

Wayzata B
I'm basing this off last year's state tournament and by looking at that, it looks like B could be with players of Ben, Sriram, Liam, Abhinav and Aadhaya. I'm not exactly sure this will be the team, but I'm sure Zata B will be great as always due to their history and their coach, Lucas.

Hudson A
Aaron Marchand is amazing history player who does other categories as well. Hudson A just needs to surround him with speciality players and Hudson could possibly be at the very top this year

Eden Prairie A
I think Eden Prairie will be back at the top 5 next year. Losing Lucas Wagner and Eleanor Fine really hurt as because they pretty much did History/Geo/Ce which we could possibly struggle in. But our A team can do a lot better this year than last year. Vineel is a great player who does Lit but also branches to Myth and can do CE. Aish is also a good player who does mainly Fa and does myth as well. Aaron Masih is another player who can do Religion, Sci and History and somehow knows the most random things on bonuses. I (Arjun) do Lit but am branching onto FA and trying to be a generalist. Depending on how well we can do either History or Science, we can definitely be a great team this year.

Spectrum
This is a really weird pick but I think Spectrum can be maybe shocking next year. At state, although they didn't place high, in the game when we played against them they played well against us and all of their players are freshman/sophomore so most likely they will be better and could possibly play high next season. They also have a player who avg 44 at MSNCT last year who is going to be a freshman this year, Samuel Fanucci.

Burnsville
Burnsville can be a very good team next year. They were almost top 5 and barely lost to Eden Prairie B (who went on to be top 5) at Roses. Their juniors who are gonna be seniors of Collin, John, Jack and Mark are all gonna make a good team that can place high.

Alright, this is all I can research for now, I definitely missed a couple of teams but this season is gonna be amazing because of how open it is and I'm very excited for it :D!

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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by Vainglorious yet Victorious »

A brief top 12:
1. Wayzata A
2. Wayzata B
3. Minnetonka A
4. Hudson A
5. Burnsville A
6. Eden Prairie A
7. Hudson B
8. Spectrum A
9. Wayzata C
10. Irondale A
11. Mounds Park A
12. Providence A (no bias whatsoever)
I look forward to the season!
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by Halinaxus »

Here's my preseason top 10. This is probably going to be significantly less verbose than my posts from past years, since I haven't seen a lot of these teams play and have to go mostly off of stats.

1. Wayzata A
*Stifles yawn*

I will note that this is the first time since 2018 that Wayzata has to replace their entire A team all at once, so they might be more vulnerable to upsets than usual.

2. Wayzata B
With Rushil, Richard, Nithin, and Sriram presumably headed to Wayzata A, the keys to the B team will now be handed to Ben Stras and Liam Buck, who each improved quite a bit over the course of last year. They will likely be joined by some combination of Abhinav Kamatgi, Ritwik Gaur, Aadhya Subramanian, and whichever underclassman inevitably decided to go on a mad carding binge this summer. I expect this year's Wayzata B will be pushed by the state's other top teams, but I think they will win more than they lose.

3. Minnetonka A
Although Tonka graduates the John/Inba/Jerry core that returned them to prominence, they return a solid team centered around rising seniors Andy Petouvis and Gautham Venkatesh. What's more, the Skippers have arguably the best prospect pool in the state right now, with players like Cooper Dobbins, Jacob Roach, Rian Matthew, and Tyler Dodge set to keep their program relevant for years to come.

4. DeLaSalle A
DLS quietly turned in some really nice numbers in the extremely competitive east division of league last year, and their performance at HSNCT was solid as well. And although they graduate captains Joseph Merrigan and Nyah Massey, everyone else is back and I suspect likely promotions Amy Kaisaki and Owen Caputo Sullivan will be more than capable of picking up the slack. With traditional east division powers Irondale, Mounds Park, Mounds View, and St. Paul Academy all in line for rebuilds, DeLaSalle is primed for a breakout.

5. Hudson A
Aaron Marchand might be the second-best generalist in Minnesota this year, and although a lot of Hudson's secondary scorers from last year are gone, they do return Aaron's longtime teammate Graham Close, along with rising sophomore Austin Clark, who is probably the future of the Hudson program. This year's Hudson A might resemble last year's Mounds Park A: a very good team capable of making noise deep into tournaments, but held back at times by their reliance on a single player.

6. Spectrum A
Remember back in the Covid days when Spectrum was dominating the middle school circuit? Well, Spectrum's high school team is finally starting to reap the benefits. Not only are Marin and Brycen putting up good numbers with two full years of eligibility left, but Joe Ambrose and Sam Fanucci have been making cameos on Spectrum A when they have time off from slaughtering middle school tournaments. This is another team with a very bright future.

7. Edina A
For the second year in a row, Edina teased its potential at SOCIAL and league, then ghosted the rest of the quiz bowl season in favor of Knowledge Bowl (except for sending a couple of players to IPNCT). I expect something similar out of them this year, although I think they're easily a top-10 team whenever they do show.

8. Burnsville A
Burnsville has been mired in a rebuild ever since their Cinderella run to a state title in 2021. It looks like they started to turn a corner last year, at least at lower difficulties, and most of their current players are now seniors, so if they're going to make some noise, this is probably the year is happens.

9. Eden Prairie A
EP is once again beset by graduations, although probably not quite as badly as they were in 2022. Still, their depth is really going to be tested this year. Vineel is a strong player, and the support he's going to get from Arjun and Aish makes Eden Prairie more well-rounded than most Minnesota teams in categories like literature and fine arts. If they can find at least one more complementary scorer, EP could make a push back up the rankings.

10. Wayzata C
Oops, almost forgot to rank Wayzata C.

Honorable Mentions
Orono A returns their top two scorers from a team that had some really strong single-game performances last year.
Irondale A and Mounds Park A are still going to be good.
Northfield A is a wild card. They haven't attended any tournaments since fall 2022, but would immediately be a top-10 team if Allie ever returns to quiz bowl.

Good luck to everyone this year! I'll be watching with interest from Indiana (and will hopefully be able to staff whatever tournaments fall over my breaks)!
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by Vainglorious yet Victorious »

I should note that I forgot about DeLaSale and Orono A. My bad!
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by arjunvivekraj21 »

Man I did not realize about Minnetonka at all, they 100 percent deserve to be in the upper tier and I also forgot about DLS and Orono, oops
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by BenWeiner27 »

The University of Minnesota is tentatively planning to organize and host the following high school tournaments during the 2023-24 season:
  • Gopher Fall Tournament using SHOW-ME More on November 18th, 2023
  • Gopher Invitation Tournament (GIVNIT) on NAQT IS-222 on December 2nd, 2023
  • Minnesota Pre-nats/Gopher Spring Tournament on a TBD set sometime during Spring semester
We have reached out to Carleton Quizbowl's new leadership and they are enthusiastic about bringing SnowCAT back to Northfield this year so we intend for UMN's hosting of the tournament in 2023 to be regarded as a temporary measure when looking ahead to the coming season.
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by The_Impaler_ »

SOCIAL XVIII will be hosted on November 4th, 2023 at Burnsville High School using IS-221A.
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by arjunvivekraj21 »

Social Happened at Nov 4, 2023 (Today!)

Congrats to Wayzata A who won the finals against Wayzata C in the Varsity Division!

Top 5 Scorers Awards:
1. Aaron Marchand (Hudson A)
2. Arjun Vivekraj (Eden Prairie A)
3. Zain Ali (Mounds Park A)
4. Vineel Panyala (Eden Prairie B)
5. Rushil Murikinati (Wayzata A)

Providence Wins in JV Division against Wayzata G, thought there were not awards but the top Individual Scorers were

1. Amory Kaufman (Providence)
2. Jonathan McMerty-Brummer (Benide-St. Margaret's A)
3. Jacob Roach (Minnetonka C)
4. Anthony Cubias (Burnsville B)
5. Selena Thach (Savage Area Academic Team B)

Here are full stats :
https://www.naqt.com/stats/tournament/s ... t_id=15173
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by The_Impaler_ »

SCATTER will be hosted on December 9th, 2023 at Eagle Ridge Middle School in Savage, MN using MS-47. Experienced high school players are invited to staff.
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by Vainglorious yet Victorious »

Some takeaways from the first tournament of the year:
I. Wayzata is still Wayzata. I (personally) thought that they might take a step back this year due to the departure of some outstanding players, but I seemingly forgot about their absolute stranglehold on Minnesota quiz bowl-however, they did in fact lose a game, which brings me to
II. Eden Prairie actually beat Wayzata A for the first time since 2021(?). Definitely a team to watch for the rest of the season-
III Wayzata A is far more aggressive than they usually need to be. Given what I've seen from Rushil Murikinati, this is no surprise (he's always been an outstanding example of a high-risk, high-reward player), but it could lead to some surprising victories if teams can continue to use this fact to their advantage.
IV. This will be another great year of Minnesota quiz bowl, and I look forward to the rest of the season!
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by arjunvivekraj21 »

Gopher Fall Tournament happened today!! (Nov 18, 2023)

Congrats to Wayzata A who won against Wayzata B in the finals

Top 10 Scorer Awards:
1. Arjun Vivekraj (Eden Prairie A)
2. Aaron Marchand (Hudson A)
3. Joey Marianni (Orono)
4. Gautam Venkatesh (Minnetonka C)
5. Navin Herbert (Wayzata E)
6. Rushil Murikanti (Wayzata A)
7. Jack Dowell (Irondale A, Or New Brighton Academic Team)
8. Kevin Qiu (Wayzata C)
9. Austin Clark (Hudson B)
10. Richard Lin (Wayzata A)

Here are the full stats:
https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/8 ... standings/
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by arjunvivekraj21 »

I should rephrase the last statement, Wayzata A, B and C all tied in the playoffs, I didn't read the stats correctly, that is my fault oops.
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by Vainglorious yet Victorious »

Can I just say that my team (Providence) was REALLY underrated? Providence wasn't even considered before the season, but we just capped a 11-0 tournament on an IS set with victories over Wayzata A and B, Hudson, Minnetonka A, and Spectrum. Definitely a team to look out for (and acknowledge) for the rest of the season.
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by Vainglorious yet Victorious »

Gopher Invitational Tournament
Final stats:
https://www.naqt.com/stats/tournament/s ... t_id=15064
1. Providence A (11-0)
2. Wayzata A (10-1)
3. Minnetonka A (8-3)
Hudson A (8-3)
5. Spectrum (7-4)
Wayzata B (6-4)
Top 5 individuals:
1. Aaron Marchand (23/62/20; 78.64)
2. Zain Ali (8/64/10; 71.0)
3. Gautam Ventakesh (14/35/9; 64.38)
4. Amory Kaufman (19/42/13; 58.18)
5. Andy Petouvis (12/42/4; 55.24)
Amory Kaufman
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by arjunvivekraj21 »

Vainglorious yet Victorious wrote: Sat Dec 02, 2023 7:01 pm Can I just say that my team (Providence) was REALLY underrated? Providence wasn't even considered before the season, but we just capped a 11-0 tournament on an IS set with victories over Wayzata A and B, Hudson, Minnetonka A, and Spectrum. Definitely a team to look out for (and acknowledge) for the rest of the season.
Bruh you had your team at the 12th spot before the season even started
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by arjunvivekraj21 »

Although I didn't go to GINVIT I think there were many interesting things in this tournament that could be talked about.

First, Providence pulled out a massive win which was wild, luck definitely played a huge role in them winning the tournament but it is still super impressive. Amory Kaufman was great, but his teammates gave him a ton of support, they had two players top 10 in scoring.

Second, that is probably the worst we're gonna see Zata A this year, and they still went 10-1, managed above a 20 PPB and still led the tournament in powers, that is wild.

Lastly, with the growth of Providence that has been shown in this tournament what could happen Rat Race and Run for the Roses. Results are gonna be very interesting to see
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by big richard »

wayzata without big richard is a cult without its personality
Last edited by big richard on Tue Dec 05, 2023 12:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by arjunvivekraj21 »

So true Richard!!!!
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by oriley »

Can someone outside the city of Plymouth win a tournament in this state
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by Vainglorious yet Victorious »

arjunvivekraj21 wrote: Mon Dec 04, 2023 9:55 pm
Vainglorious yet Victorious wrote: Sat Dec 02, 2023 7:01 pm Can I just say that my team (Providence) was REALLY underrated? Providence wasn't even considered before the season, but we just capped a 11-0 tournament on an IS set with victories over Wayzata A and B, Hudson, Minnetonka A, and Spectrum. Definitely a team to look out for (and acknowledge) for the rest of the season.
Bruh you had your team at the 12th spot before the season even started
That’s fair-I didn’t think about that.
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by arjunvivekraj21 »

oriley wrote: Tue Dec 05, 2023 1:19 pm Can someone outside the city of Plymouth win a tournament in this state
It will happen soon Owen >:)
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by arjunvivekraj21 »

Eden Prairie High School is excited to announce our first installment of SOAR! More details about the tournament can be found here- https://hsquizbowl.org/forums/viewtopic ... 13#p397913
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by PunaEkka64 »

The Mid-season poll was recently conducted and the result are as follows:
1) Irondale A
2) Wayzata B
3) Wayzata A
4) Minnetonka A
5) DeLaSalle A
6) Mounds Park A
7) Saint Agnes A
8) Eden Prairie A
9) Hudson A
10) Edgewood A

Any other results released to the public were manipulated by nefarious figures I will not name (however their names might rhyme with Baron Budson and Barjun BP).
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by big richard »

If you’re looking for the real results (Pekka must have had a fever dream), they can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... yyknA/edit

A summary of my takeaways:
Tier One:
1. Wayzata A
2. Wayzata C
Wayzata A remained almost everyone’s top choice, and as I mentioned in my ballot, they have proven themselves to excel on harder packets, as long as negging is in control. Wayzata C will be scary as players like Kevin and Owen continue to gain experience.

Tier Two:
3. Providence
4. Wayzata B
5. Hudson
6. EP A
7. Minnetonka A
These are all legit teams and have proven that they can take down the teams in the “first tier”. Definitely strong teams that could get scary if they continue to improve.

Tier Three:
8. De La Salle A
9. Spectrum
10. Wayzata D
Teams that can use more experience or haven’t played in enough tournaments to make a good ranking.

Thanks for a great fall season; I’m excited for winter!
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by big richard »

Do we know what the field for SOAR will be?
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by arjunvivekraj21 »

Just posted about something related to SOAR, it will be delayed to sometime in March.
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by BeckettP »

Halinaxus wrote: Sat Aug 05, 2023 2:45 pm Here's my preseason top 10. This is probably going to be significantly less verbose than my posts from past years, since I haven't seen a lot of these teams play and have to go mostly off of stats.

1. Wayzata A
*Stifles yawn*

I will note that this is the first time since 2018 that Wayzata has to replace their entire A team all at once, so they might be more vulnerable to upsets than usual.

2. Wayzata B
With Rushil, Richard, Nithin, and Sriram presumably headed to Wayzata A, the keys to the B team will now be handed to Ben Stras and Liam Buck, who each improved quite a bit over the course of last year. They will likely be joined by some combination of Abhinav Kamatgi, Ritwik Gaur, Aadhya Subramanian, and whichever underclassman inevitably decided to go on a mad carding binge this summer. I expect this year's Wayzata B will be pushed by the state's other top teams, but I think they will win more than they lose.

3. Minnetonka A
Although Tonka graduates the John/Inba/Jerry core that returned them to prominence, they return a solid team centered around rising seniors Andy Petouvis and Gautham Venkatesh. What's more, the Skippers have arguably the best prospect pool in the state right now, with players like Cooper Dobbins, Jacob Roach, Rian Matthew, and Tyler Dodge set to keep their program relevant for years to come.

4. DeLaSalle A
DLS quietly turned in some really nice numbers in the extremely competitive east division of league last year, and their performance at HSNCT was solid as well. And although they graduate captains Joseph Merrigan and Nyah Massey, everyone else is back and I suspect likely promotions Amy Kaisaki and Owen Caputo Sullivan will be more than capable of picking up the slack. With traditional east division powers Irondale, Mounds Park, Mounds View, and St. Paul Academy all in line for rebuilds, DeLaSalle is primed for a breakout.

5. Hudson A
Aaron Marchand might be the second-best generalist in Minnesota this year, and although a lot of Hudson's secondary scorers from last year are gone, they do return Aaron's longtime teammate Graham Close, along with rising sophomore Austin Clark, who is probably the future of the Hudson program. This year's Hudson A might resemble last year's Mounds Park A: a very good team capable of making noise deep into tournaments, but held back at times by their reliance on a single player.

6. Spectrum A
Remember back in the Covid days when Spectrum was dominating the middle school circuit? Well, Spectrum's high school team is finally starting to reap the benefits. Not only are Marin and Brycen putting up good numbers with two full years of eligibility left, but Joe Ambrose and Sam Fanucci have been making cameos on Spectrum A when they have time off from slaughtering middle school tournaments. This is another team with a very bright future.

7. Edina A
For the second year in a row, Edina teased its potential at SOCIAL and league, then ghosted the rest of the quiz bowl season in favor of Knowledge Bowl (except for sending a couple of players to IPNCT). I expect something similar out of them this year, although I think they're easily a top-10 team whenever they do show.

8. Burnsville A
Burnsville has been mired in a rebuild ever since their Cinderella run to a state title in 2021. It looks like they started to turn a corner last year, at least at lower difficulties, and most of their current players are now seniors, so if they're going to make some noise, this is probably the year is happens.

9. Eden Prairie A
EP is once again beset by graduations, although probably not quite as badly as they were in 2022. Still, their depth is really going to be tested this year. Vineel is a strong player, and the support he's going to get from Arjun and Aish makes Eden Prairie more well-rounded than most Minnesota teams in categories like literature and fine arts. If they can find at least one more complementary scorer, EP could make a push back up the rankings.

10. Wayzata C
Oops, almost forgot to rank Wayzata C.

Honorable Mentions
Orono A returns their top two scorers from a team that had some really strong single-game performances last year.
Irondale A and Mounds Park A are still going to be good.
Northfield A is a wild card. They haven't attended any tournaments since fall 2022, but would immediately be a top-10 team if Allie ever returns to quiz bowl.

Good luck to everyone this year! I'll be watching with interest from Indiana (and will hopefully be able to staff whatever tournaments fall over my breaks)!
I like that Number 7, we actually got mentioned!

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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by AaronMarchand »

Thank you Richard for posting poll results, I have been busy selling my soul to the Common App along with grinding world lit on Qbreader. I would like to add that Minnesota Quizbowl has found the Kryptonite to Wayzata qualifying tons of teams........... Wisconsin
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by PunaEkka64 »

Wayzata's kryptonite is a competent circuit (or a 12-year-old).
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by big richard »

(or a certain someone having to take the SAT)
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by PunaEkka64 »

Goatbhinav and the #1 Weezer fan are just too good.
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by big richard »

PAAT begins this season as champions! Hopefully this new addition to the circuit brings about the downfall of the cruel and tyrannical reign of Wayzata Quizbowl!
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by arjunvivekraj21 »

SOAR has been rescheduled to March 2nd!
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by arjunvivekraj21 »

SOAR finished today, here are all the stats- https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/8615/. Wayzata B won the tournament with Wayzata A coming second and Minnetonka A coming third.

I want to thank a couple of people for the help of this tournament. Vineel (co-td and staffer for this tournament Ms. Anderson, and Aish, one of EP's captains, Sankalp and Atharva, two freshman from EP who were willing to help for this tournament. Ai, Luke, Isaac, Avery all staffed for the tournament. Erik Nelson helped me set up Modaq, Young Fenimore Lee for helping me with Yellowfruit, Blake Andert guided me in a lot of things to set up for this tournament. All the coaches from the schools that game today. Thank you all for helping me run this tournament!
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by BenWeiner27 »

arjunvivekraj21 wrote: Sat Mar 02, 2024 7:42 pm SOAR finished today, here are all the stats- https://hsquizbowl.org/db/tournaments/8615/. Wayzata B won the tournament with Wayzata A coming second and Minnetonka A coming third.

I want to thank a couple of people for the help of this tournament. Vineel (co-td and staffer for this tournament Ms. Anderson, and Aish, one of EP's captains, Sankalp and Atharva, two freshman from EP who were willing to help for this tournament. Ai, Luke, Isaac, Avery all staffed for the tournament. Erik Nelson helped me set up Modaq, Young Fenimore Lee for helping me with Yellowfruit, Blake Andert guided me in a lot of things to set up for this tournament. All the coaches from the schools that game today. Thank you all for helping me run this tournament!
Thanks for running SOAR Arjun! It's really great to see more mACF tournaments on housewrites getting run in the state (in addition to just more HS regs-level tournaments in general), and it sounds like SOAR went well so congrats on organizing a successful event!
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by Vainglorious yet Victorious »

I would like to second this. SOAR was very enjoyable, and Arjun and the other Eden Prairie staffers-as well as the moderators/readers-should take a well deserved bow on a tournament well done. I hope I can participate in a second installment next year!
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by AaronMarchand »

Post season poll now available for completion

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIp ... sp=sf_link
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by big richard »

The post-season poll has concluded! Stats can be found at the link below:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

Thanks for a great season everyone!
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by big richard »

arjun, aaron, andy, and i are considering running a scrimmage-like tournament that'll run sometime in april. in a nutshell, you'll be able to play with friends and people from other schools against other participants. its just a way to play with and against some new teams and meet some new people (and prepare for nats). were thinking about running it on a weekend in april somewhere in the metro area.

please fill out this form if you're interested:
https://forms.gle/JVQe6juQmEKAeVd56
Last edited by big richard on Sun Mar 24, 2024 3:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by Vainglorious yet Victorious »

Congratulations to Providence (7), Mounds Park (33) and Spectrum (36) for their performances in the Open Division of the SSNCT! Apologies if I missed a SSNCT-going MN school, or if I got a placement wrong. I plan to do a more thorough year-in-review post once HSNCT wraps up for more of the teams in general, but it's an excellent start in terms of MN nationals-level quiz bowl success!
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by DispatchedCeleryWarrior »

As the thread covers Minnesota from 2023-3024 I find it reasonable to state my prediction regarding the state of Minnesota Quiz Bowl in 2026.

Minnetonka A ranks first place at Minnesota State, upsetting the Wayzata-dominant status quo.

User was reminded to enable a signature. --Mgmt.
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by LordPanda887 »

Now that the 2023-24 Quiz Bowl season has officially come to a close, Aaron Marchand and I decided it was time to FINALLY release our end-of-year power rankings and give our predictions for what the field will look like next season.

The Top Dawgs

1. Wayzata A: Not really much to say here other than the fact that even in one of the most competitive seasons of MN Quiz Bowl in recent memory, Wayzata A and their “PAAT A” alter ego still managed to come out on top in almost every meet, even without Rushil “LordKeebler” Murikinati himself. However, his regal presence and production were appropriately replaced by Owen Liu (one of the nicest QB players you will ever meet) and mogging legend Kevin Qiu, who was probably the most fun player to play against this entire season and is sure to only get better as a Junior.

Next team, please. –Andy

The Group of Death: These are the teams who weren’t quite top tier but were consistently finishing close to the top at every meet.

2. Wayzata B: Do you want to face a balanced team of some of the strongest specialists in the state with the 28th at IPNCT individual to boot? I certainly didn’t. One of the strongest teams in the state, held back from the crown only by Wayzata A. –Aaron

3. Wayzata C: Wayzata C was arguably very on-par with Minnetonka A at the end of the year, but the big factor that separates the two in these rankings is the head-to-head results. Wayzata C’s #3 end-of-year ranking was all but solidified after their clutch win in the 3rd place tiebreaker game in the MN State Championship back in March. Super fun team to play against and they had a really, really great year. –Andy

4. Minnetonka A: A team that while consistently placed in top 5, went from being led “with a steady hand” by generalist Andy Petouvis, to a team of specialists, with Andy's out of category generalism only returning for Nationals due to his scaling ability. Beyond Andy, this team's specialists were INSANE. Mihir, Liam, Clara and Tyler are all incredible, young specialists each in their own right, and the future is bright. In terms of rankings, fourth place finishes at both League and State combined with a strong performance in Atlanta pushes this team towards the very top of the pack. -Aaron

5. Hudson: A tough team to beat all year with the guy who arguably should’ve won 2023-24 MNHSQB MVP (if it weren’t with Wayzata voters) and Minnetonka Administration impersonator Aaron Marchand. They had some gutsy performances down the stretch, including a 3rd place finish at League Playoffs. Unfortunately, they were missing world-famous juggler Graham Close (he was valedictorian, too) at many meets which hurt them a bit, and their HSNCT performance was not very indicative of their overall team quality, as Graham and Aaron were inactive due to Hudson’s poorly timed graduation. This might be the end of the road for Hudson’s state title contention for a few years, but it was a great run. –Andy

6. EP A: Arjun Vivekraj absolutely balled out this year and is sure to only get better. An overall solid team with some solid performances, but a disappointing Memorial Day weekend in Atlanta is going to sting for a bit. However, in the long run, that could be the set of 10 games we look back on as the start of Arjun’s villain arc…stay tuned –Andy

7. DeLaSalle: For a week in February, DLS was the undisputed number two team in the state after SnowCAT (minus their loss to Mickey Mouse “St. Croix Area Academic Team” and Aaron “4 negs and won” Marchand) and League Playoffs, but their performance at HSNCT drops them down a bit. Still a really solid season from their veteran core, and a shoutout to generalist Nat Chang-Deutsch, the Drake hat, and Culver's Cheese cheese curd and official team mascot “Bartholomew''. –-Andy and Aaron

The Providence Enigma

8. Providence A : This team is impossible to rank. Genuine arguments can be made that they should be ranked anywhere from number 2 to number 9. They have the only winning record against Wayzata in the state and are the only non-Wayzata team to win a real tournament (as much as I want ACRONYM to count, it doesn’t. –Andy). However, losing many head-to-head matches against teams ranked above, along with a 7th place finish at League and 10th place at State makes them nearly impossible to rank. –Aaron

The Up-and-Comers: These teams were sneaky good.

9. Tonka B: This team of young up-and-comers sneakily got 5th at the state championships, and beat top teams like Eden Prairie and Providence, and barely lost to Wayzata b in OT. OH YEAH AND THEY ALSO RANDOMLY BEAT WAYZATA A AT SNOW CAT. Similar to their A team cousins, this team of strong soon-to-be Juniors have a promising future (as long as Jacob Roach breaks free from Andy P’s perpetuation of brainrot culture) -Aaron

10. Wayzata D: When Dwight Eisenhower warned of a military industrial complex, he could have instead warned of the Wayzata Quizbowl Industrial complex. Bottom line, another INCREDIBLE Wayzata team, once again showing the depth of Wayzata Quiz Bowl with some turnover and inconsistency, but they got 3rd at Snow CAT and 4th at League Play West Division and are deserving of the ten slot.

HM: Edina, Orono, Chaska A, Roseville A, Mounds Park A, Spectrum, Chanhassen, Burnsville A, Burnsville B

And now…the rankings for next year:

The Top Dawgs

1. Wayzata A: The good ol’ A team from Peony Lane is going to be the best team in the state next year, without a doubt. Until someone truly starts to be better than them, they are undisputed top dawgs. –Andy

The Challengers: The teams that will be in the mix for a state title next year.

2. EP A: This is what I mean when I say Arjun is about to enter his villain arc. The young blood at EP is going to have to step up and give him some support but Arjun is very likely going to be a strong favorite for top individual player in the entire state. A hard carry is not necessarily a recipe for success (let us just ignore Buffalo Grove for the sake of outliers not being indicative of an overall trend) but Arjun is vengeance. Let him cook. –Andy

3. Wayzata B: They’ll still be stacked. ‘Nuff said. –Andy

4. Tonka A: Do you want to play a HSNCT playoff team that only lost a single player? Didn’t think so. With noted strengths and history and science, along with incredible rising stars (seriously, Mihir and Liam’s meteoric rises need to be studied) combined with previously strong players in Tyler Dodge lead to an incredibly strong team. The only reason they are not ranked higher, is while Tonka had a great run at HSNCT, the lack of powers (only 5) left something to be desired. –Aaron
P.S. Nobody should be surprised if this team ends up winning State in 2024-25. –Andy

Don't be surprised if Wayzata A loses to some of these teams

5. Wayzata C: Some of their players will potentially be moving up to fill the holes left by Owen, Nithin, and Liam on the top two teams, but again, they will still be good. –Andy

6. Tonka B: Yeah, this team has all the trappings of a SHOCKINGLY good team. They sneakily got 5th at state champs, (beating EP A and Providence along the way), have young players who will continue to scale, AND they beat Wayzata A last year. Be wary, this team has the ability to go on a run. –Aaron

7. Providence A: Providence this year was, well……………………………… an enigma. Looking to next year, Providence loses core player Nathan Ward. However, Amory (MNQBs Top Freshman in 2023-24 according to community poll) will have another year to improve. Additionally, incoming seniors Sam and Genevieve are both incredible players and Providence will likely have an additional strong 4th. This already won a tournament last year, and looks to improve and look to the future. -Aaron

The Mixed Bag: We aren’t fully sure what to expect, but these teams strongly round out the group of EXPECTED relevant teams (of course, who knows who else could step up next year because predictions are stupid anyway)

8. Wayzata D: Again, it is Wayzata, they will generate a good team. I can't predict Wayzata D’s roster but trust me it will be good. -Aaron

9. Tonka C: Did you know that at the start of next year, Tonka C will likely have the 4th highest scoring player at MSNCT last year and arguably the best prospect MNHSQB has seen in years? Well now you do. Say hello to Yan-Ru Cao. Given that MSNCT tracks well to HS regs, a strong performance often indicates strong HS performance. With already impressive underclassmen this year including Gus Sullivan, Van Le, and known West Division All-Star Michael Luo, Tonka C can make a deep run similar to the one Providence made at GINVIT 2023 and potentially pull off some early upsets at SOCIAL and Roses. Even if Yan-Ru moves up to Tonka A or Tonka B, this team will still be able to pull its own weight as the 2023-24 rookie class continues to improve. –Aaron and Andy

10. Edina: This team is mostly a KB team and as such, no higher ranking can be justified. However, if this team returns to tournaments, they have the potential to challenge any team on this list. Impressive performances at League, only losing Palmer Monsen, and the fact that Edina is the preeminent KB power give this team incredible potential. –Aaron

HM: Apple Valley (you will see…… –Aaron)
Last edited by LordPanda887 on Fri Jun 14, 2024 1:27 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: Minnesota 2023-3024

Post by ScottF »

Attention Minnesota schools:

International Academic Competitions is looking for a host school for the 2024-25 Minnesota Science, History, and Geo Bees.
This year IAC has added two new divisions for JV and High School, so players can now continue competing after 8th grade.

The regionals are great fundraisers, and teams or schools can use the money however they want. Our hosts earn a minimum of $600 and can make up to $2500 depending on the size of the event and number of moderators provided. Mods can be any adult 16 or older, so former players are eligible as well as parents, teachers, admin, etc.

We need 10-12 competition rooms and a large meeting area, plus a host coordinator. The HC must be a school employee and needs be on campus all day. That position earns $200 for the day, or $300 if there are 25 or more participants from their school.

Please reach out to me at [email protected] if you are interested or have any questions.

warm regards, Scott

https://www.iacompetitions.com/
Scott Fowler
River Trail Middle School 2024 National Champions
Northview High School 4-time State Champions
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