2003-04 Schedule and Results

• Frederick Douglass Invitational Championship
• New Tournament at Cornell
• Terrapin Invitational Tournament
• TRASH Regionals
• Michigan MLK
• Ann B. Davis #9
• Penn Bowl the 13th
• NAQT Sectionals
• Flower City Invitational
• NAQT Intercollegiate Championship Tournament
• ACF Nationals
• TRASHionals 007: LAZENBY!!

Rochester's first-ever attempt at running a college-level tournament, the FDIC was a definite success. A strong team from Maryland outclassed the competition, including two house teams, and drove home with the title (but without their buzzers). Full stats and standings are available here.

UR's A team (Adelman, Arsenoff, Bush, Elsner, Parameswaran) put in a typical strong showing at the NTaC, formerly Big Red Royal Rumble, placing second to Michigan. Tournament MVP honors go to Blake, both for his play on the B team (with Guido, Morrison, and Schulman) and for putting both teams up in his house in nearby Candor, NY. See this file for results and statistics.

With three Washingtonians on the team, playing this tournament just made sense. The sole team (Arsenoff, Bush, Elsner, Schermeyer, Schulman) turned in another second place finish, defeating a Subash-only Chicago team in the round robin only to lose to the Maroon's full squad in the playoffs. As a side note, the Thelions nearly returned the favor of the FDIC by leaving their buzzer system behind. Full stats and standings are available here.

Rochester's performance at the first trash event of the year was solid, if not astounding. Crazy Go Nuts University (Adelman, Blake, Furniss) finished tied for fourth and qualified for TRASHionals 2004; Pile of Electronics University (Guido, LaPage, Morrison) and Homestar's Knees Tech (Bunyak, Schulman, Stoss, Widawsky) finished below .500 but had a great time, and great theme names. Full stats and standings are available here.

The Thelions took a page from Michigan's handbook, sending an unprecedented four teams to the 2004 MLK tournament. The top squad (Adelman, Arsenoff, Bush, Elsner) finished in a tie for third place with one loss, behind only the Yaphe-Subash juggernaut and an undefeated house team. Note to Michigan scorekeepers: next time spell our names right. All of them. Full stats and standings are available here.

For Michigan's annual trash extravaganza (this year featuring jackpot scoring), UR's four teams from MLK split into five. Adelman, trying to recapture the theme glory of TRASH Regionals, named them after the Spice Girls, which is why he's not president anymore. We wish to thank the tournament staff for working with us after late packets nearly cost all five teams their spots in the tournament. Full stats and standings can be found here.

In a controversial playoff that was talked about on the quizbowl Yahoo! group for some time afterward, Yale A defeated Rochester A (Arsenoff, Bush, Elsner, Parameswaran) and then Michigan to win the season's biggest independent tournament. The B team (Adelman, Blake, Guido, Schermeyer, Schulman) turned in a strong performance as well, but finished out of the money. For the second time this season, the buzzers almost got left behind. Results pending.

The Thelion Society chose to forgo Knights Inn and make a day trip of this year's SCT. Leaving Rochester at 4:30 am didn't seem to have a detrimental effect on play, though, as the B (Arsenoff, Blake, Elsner, Schermeyer) and A (Adelman, Bush, Furniss, Morrison) completed the exacta in a small Division I field. Ballerini had an impressive debut on the C team (with Feder, Guido, Schulman, and Stoss), which finished 4-10 including several games decided by a single tossup. Full stats and standings can be found here for Division I and here for Division II.

The second annual Flower City Invitational experienced diminished attendance from last year, but was a pronounced success anyway. One game down after the round robin, McQuaid Jesuit won two playoff matches from Livonia to secure victory. Full stats and standings are available here.

Two Thelion sides qualified in Division I for the 2004 ICT. Instead of sending both, however, Rochester settled on a single hybrid team of Adelman, Arsenoff, Bush, and Schermeyer. This approach left behind some powerful players, but the squad that went played strong, ate its Indian food, and landed in 7th place in the 32-team field, with a 6-7 overall record. Full stats and standings can be found here for Division I and here for Division II.

The ICT was also the last event of Jack Schermeyer's career. We were glad to be able to send him off in style and glory.

Rochester didn't attend an ACF Regional tournament this spring, so the Thelion Society didn't have a qualifying team for Nationals. Arsenoff, Bush, Elsner, and Parameswaran went anyway. (It certainly helped that, much like the Terrapin Invitational, team members stayed at their homes and drove Blake's car.) Despite what each player considered individually disappointing performances, the team justified its seed by finishing fifth, and scored a convincing win early on over Texas A&M. Full stats and standings can be found here.

The theme name to end all theme names was planned for TRASHionals, and though some elements of the "Jason and the Toronto Argonauts" concept were missing, the net result was still more than enough to get a laugh out of Jason "LaRouche is on fire!" Keller. The Thelions who attended (Adelman, Blake, Furniss, and Morrison) played their way to a 4-9-1 record, landing them in the third playoff bracket. Congratulations to champions Shonen Spork and top scorer Dwight Kidder. Full results pending.

TRASHionals 007 was also the last tournament of founding member Mike Adelman's career. Adelman was a key part of the Society, both on and off the buzzer, for all four years of his UR education. He'll be hard to replace, and we appreciate everything he's done for this team.

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