NAQT Ohio State Championship
The NAQT Ohio State Tournament is an annual tournament held in Ohio to determine the recipient of the automatic bid to the NAQT High School National Championship Tournament. Although 2009 marks only its fifth year in existence, it is already better accepted by most experienced players, coaches and moderators as the "real" state championship.
History
In 2005, Greg Bossick received a bid to hold the first NAQT Ohio State Tournament at Youngstown State University. Greg's goal was to attract 32 teams in both Division I (large school) and Division II (small school) and have a separate state championship for each before taking the top 3 schools from each division and playing them off for an overall state championship. Though the plan did not come to pass and a few problems occurred during the day, the tournament was considered successful, although the lack of certain powerhouse state teams diluted the field greatly.
After Greg decided hosting the tournament was too much of a time commitment, Bob Kilner approached him about helping if he bid to host the tournament at Garfield Heights. Greg obliged and the tournament was held from 2006-2008 there with a similar format in 2006, but switching to 32-team powermatching for 2007 and 2008. After Bob Kilner left Garfield Heights following the 2007-08 school year, it was decided that a more centralized championship would be appropriate and Ohio State obtained the bid.
Results
2005
Host: Youngstown State University
Tournament Director: Greg Bossick
Teams: 20 (10 in division 1, 10 in division II)
Format: Round-robin within each division, best record takes state title, then single elimination among top 6 for grand championship.
Division I State Champion: Harvey Firestone High School, Akron
Division I State Runner-Up: Garfield Heights High School
Division II State Champion: Tippecanoe High School, Tipp City
Division II State Runner-Up: Salem High School
Grand Champion: Solon (over Garfield Heights in the finals)
High Scorer: Noah Rahman, Solon
Note: Noah missed the first two or three rounds, which included losses to both Garfield Heights and Firestone. He returned to lead his team to a victory over Garfield Heights in the grand championship finals.
2006
Host: Garfield Heights High School
Tournament Director: Bob Kilner
Teams: 26
Format: Both divisions were initially supposed to be two brackets of eight, but after last minute drops due to snow, there ended up being one bracket of 6 and one bracket of 7 in each division. The top eight teams after the single elimination were ranked in each division and played single elimination for the championships. There was no grand championship played.
Division I State Champion: Garfield Heights High School
Division I State Runner-Up: Mentor High School
Division II State Champion: William V. Fisher Catholic High School, Lancaster
Division II State Runner-Up: Tippecanoe High School, Tipp City
Division I High Scorer: Jim Hrdlicka, Garfield Heights
Division II High Scorer: Ryan Haas, Tippecanoe High School, Tipp City
Note: Tippecanoe was leading by 40 going into the final question which was on the United Nations. Tipp negged with "League of Nations" and Fisher picked up the 10, plus 30'd the bonus to win 230-225.
2007
Host: Garfield Heights High School
Tournament Director: Bob Kilner
Teams: 32
Format: Random draw for 1st opponent followed by power-matching for 5 rounds. Teams were re-seeded by record and ppg 1-16 and 17-32 for championship round-robin and consolation round-robin play. Teams played within a 4-team round robin, and the winner of each bracket qualified for single-elimination finals, where they were re-seeded based on ppg.
State Champion: Tippecanoe High School, Tipp City
State Runner-Up: William V. Fisher Catholic High School, Lancaster
3rd Place: Copley High School
4th Place: Garfield Heights High School
High Scorer: Dan Humphrey, Garfield Heights
2008
Host: Garfield Heights High School
Tournament Director: Bob Kilner
Teams: 32
Format: Random draw for 1st opponent followed by power-matching for 5 rounds. Teams were re-seeded by record and ppg 1-16 and 17-32 for championship round-robin and consolation round-robin play. Teams played within a 4-team round robin, and the winner of each bracket qualified for single-elimination finals, where they were re-seeded based on ppg.
State Champion: Garfield Heights High School
State Runner-Up: Solon High School
3rd Place: Stow-Munroe Falls High School
4th Place: Harvey Firestone High School, Akron
High Scorer: Ike Jose, Stow-Munroe Falls High School
2009
Host: Ohio State University, Columbus
Tournament Director: Jacob Durst
Teams: 24
Format: Field was split into 3 brackets of 8 and a round robin was played. The field was then split into 4 brackets of 6 based on morning performance (top 2 from each bracket into championship bracket, etc.) for another round robin and ACF rules were used to determine champion.
State Champion: Walnut Hills
State Runner Up: Solon A
3rd Place: Ottawa Hills
4th Place: Solon B
High Scorer: Jim Coury, Olmsted Falls