IESA Headlines

2010 IESA Scholastic Bowl State Final Tournaments Are Friday

Half of the eight Class A and Class AA qualifiers are making their first appearance in the Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) State Final Scholastic Bowl Tournaments scheduled to be conducted Friday (May 7) at Heartland Community College in Normal.

Pool play begins at 3:30 p.m. in both Class A and Class AA. Pool matches will be played in each class at 3:30, 4:30 and 5:30. The third place and championship matches will be played at 7:30 p.m.

Heartland Community College is hosting the State Tournaments for the fifth straight year. ZeeCraft Tech provides the lock-out systems used in the competition. The questions are provided by Questions Galore. All the matches, registration and the award ceremony will be conducted in the Workforce Development Center (WDC) on the Heartland campus.

The price of admission Friday is $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for seniors (62 and over) and students (K-8), and is good for all matches Friday. Children younger than kindergarten are admitted free. Fans attending the matches Friday will receive a wristband that is to be worn all day and will be used for entry into the facility throughout the day.

IESA Scholastic Bowl began in 1988 although a state final was not held the first year. There was one-class competition from 1989-96, and in 1997 the state series was divided into Class A and Class AA by school size. This is the 22nd year of state series competition in Scholastic Bowl and the 14th year for Class A and Class AA competition.

This year 364 member schools entered the statewide series in Scholastic Bowl.

Complete pairings for each state final and the results after competition Friday, plus the FanZone, can be found at www.iesa.org. Click on the Scholastic Bowl line in the orange box at the top of the IESA Web Site Home Page.

Here is a look at each of the two 2010 State Final Tournaments:

Class A Tournament

Unbeatens Paris Crestwood (33-0) and Bushnell-Prairie City (15-0) are in Pool B and will face each other in the first match of the round-robin at 3:30 p.m. Joining them in Pool B are Beecher City (14-5) and Ottawa Wallace (27-5). Paris Crestwood placed third last year.

The other team returning from last year's Class A tournament is Aviston (37-4) in Pool A. Also in Pool A are Lostant (23-3), Peoria Academy (16-1) and Normal Metcalf (11-1).

Five of the 8 finalists were seeded first in their respective sectional. The three that were not seeded first in the sectional were Lostant (No. 3), Peoria Academy (No. 2) and Beecher City (No. 5).

Making their first appearances at the state final are Beecher City, Bushnell-Prairie City, Lostant and Ottawa Wallace.

Normal Metcalf is making its seventh trip to the state final and is seeking its third state championship. Normal Metcalf has a 15-6 record in Class A state tournament competition. In 1999 Normal Metcalf competed in the state final for the first time and did not advance from pool play. Since then the Wildcats have finished first twice (2001 and 2006), second once (2007) and fourth twice (2002 and 2004).

Paris Crestwood is making its fifth trip to the state tournament, is 8-6 all-time in state final matches, took second in 2005 along with third in 2009, and the Eagles' roster is composed of all eighth graders. Aviston (1-2 in the state final) and Peoria Academy (0-3) are each making their second state final appearance.

On the rosters of the eight finalists there are 7 fifth graders, 14 sixth graders, 35 seventh graders and 46 eighth graders. Lostant's roster includes 4 fifth graders, 2 sixth graders, 3 seventh graders and 5 eighth graders. Peoria Academy has 3 fifth graders, 3 sixth graders, 4 seventh graders and 5 eighth graders on its roster. Beecher City has 5 seventh graders and 2 eighth graders on its roster.

In IESA competition, school enrollments are determined by the students in seventh and eighth grade. Class A is the smallest class. Enrollments of the eight finalists are: Lostant 22, Peoria Academy 52, Aviston 67, Beecher City 72, Ottawa Wallace 79, Normal Metcalf 97, Paris Crestwood 107 and Bushnell-Prairie City 121.

Following are the Class A Tournament pairings:

Class AA

Perennial powerhouse Lincolnshire Daniel Wright (27-3) is making its seventh straight trip to the State Tournament, extending its record for consecutive all-time and Class AA appearances. The Trojans are in Pool B and the three losses on their record are one more than the combined losses of the other three teams in Pool B: Wilmington (22-0), Charleston (29-1) and Champaign Franklin (16-1). Lincolnshire Daniel Wright beat Charleston in last year's third place match.

The Pool A teams are Jacksonville Turner (28-5), New Lenox Liberty (23-6), O'Fallon Fulton (14-3) and Dunlap Valley MS (13-3).

Only three of the 8 finalists were seeded No. 1 in their respective sectional. They were New Lenox Liberty, Wilmington and Charleston. Lincolnshire Daniel Wright was the No. 2 seed, Champaign Franklin the No. 3 seed, and Dunlap Valley MS along with Jacksonville Turner the No. 5 seed. O'Fallon Fulton was not among the eight seeded teams in the Rochester Sectional. The Panthers beat No. 1 seed Edwardsville Liberty 208-187 to win the regional.

Lincolnshire Daniel Wright took third in 2004 and 2009, second in 2005 and 2008 and first in 2006 and 2007. The Trojans have won 20 of 24 Class AA state final matches, and have never finished below third place at the state tournament.

Charleston is appearing for the sixth time, taking fourth place in each of its last two appearances, and is 6-11 in state tournament matches. Jacksonville Turner is making its fourth trip to the state final and has a 3-6 record in it. New Lenox Liberty's only other appearance was in 2008 when the Patriots placed fourth and went 2-2 in the tournament.

The schools making their first appearance in the state final are Champaign Franklin, Dunlap Valley MS, O'Fallon Fulton and Wilmington.

Of the 110 students listed on the rosters of the finalists, 10 are sixth graders, 43 are seventh graders and 57 are eighth graders. Three of the schools have a sixth grader on the roster: Champaign Franklin (5), Lincolnshire Daniel Wright (1) and O'Fallon Fulton (4). Wilmington's roster of 10 consists of 7 seventh graders and 3 eighth graders.

In IESA competition, school enrollments are determined by the students in seventh and eighth grade. Class AA is the largest class. Enrollments of the eight finalists are: Wilmington 237, Dunlap Valley MS 248, Champaign Franklin 360, O'Fallon Fulton 361, Lincolnshire Daniel Wright 403, Charleston 412, Jacksonville Turner 536 and New Lenox Liberty 671.

Following are the Class AA Tournament pairings: