FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Robert Hentzel
President
National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC
P.O. Box 130613
Ann Arbor, MI 48113-0613
1.888.411.6278 (phone)
1.734.769.7584 (fax)
http://www.naqt.com
naqt@naqt.com

Illinois, Princeton Win NAQT Quiz Bowl Titles

BOSTON, MA - April 9, 2000. Forty-one teams from across the United States, Canada, and Great Britain showed up at the 2000 National Academic Quiz Tournaments Intercollegiate Championship at Boston University aiming to prove that they knew more than anybody else in a game of quick reflexes and factual knowledge. After 17 rounds of play, the Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois staked their claim to that distinction by defeating defending champion University of Chicago in the final game by a score of 370-310. Princeton University won the Undergraduate Title, finishing six spots higher than defending champion Carleton College.

Quiz bowl matches consist of two teams vying to answer questions about science, literature, history, geography, the fine arts, and current events mixed with a generous dose of sports and popular culture. Players try to answer as quickly as possible, sometimes before the moderator has even finished reading them the question.

The tournament also featured a Division II competition for the best new players and teams. Harvard University's rookie team won that title with a 245-155 victory over Rhodes College (Tennessee) in the finals.

The victorious Illinois team consisted of Subash Maddipoti, Dom Ricci, Mike Angel, and Chris Vicich. Subash, the second-place scorer in the tournament, triggered applause in the middle of the match when he buzzed in after hearing only "Two answers required. One of these schools made its first appearance in the NCAA men's basketball tournament in 21 years last month, . . ." He answered "Indiana State," then paused and added "and Michigan State" correctly predicting that the question would link them through the famous 1979 title game featuring Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

Repeating as the leading individual scorer in the tournament was the University of Chicago's Andrew Yaphe, who scored 73.5 points per game with about half of his answers scoring "power points" for interrupting the moderator very early in the question.

The top ten finishers in the tournament were Illinois, Chicago, Michigan, Berkeley, Harvard, Cal Tech, Princeton, Oklahoma, Maryland, and Yale. The top five finishers in the Division II competition were Harvard, Rhodes, Princeton, Berkeley, and Stanford. Complete statistics for the tournaments, including win/loss records and correct/incorrect question totals for each player may be found on the NAQT website at http://www.naqt.com.

The NAQT Championship is open to teams from all colleges and universities as well as community colleges, junior colleges, and military academies. Students or faculty members interested in forming a team to compete in the 2000-2001 year should contact NAQT at naqt@naqt.com or 1.888.411.6278 to receive information.