Maryland Fall Classic
The Maryland Fall Classic Tournament, or the Maryland High School Invitational Tournament, is a house-written high school quizbowl tournament held annually in the early fall by the University of Maryland.
Old Format
The Maryland Fall Classic is usually modeled on the It's Academic format, although there are some changes. In recent years, the tournament has not featured the visual questions found on the It's Academic TV show, nor has there been any computational math in the tournament. Also, a category round is still included despite the category round no longer being used on the It's Academic TV show.
The basic structure of each round is:
- 10 "Letter Round" Tossups
- 7 "Team Round 1" Questions given to each team separately
- 10 "Category Round" Tossups
- 7 "Team Round 2" Questions given to each team seperately
- 15 "Grab Bag" Tossups
None of the tossup rounds feature bouncebacks. The Grab Bag questions tend to be longer and more pyramidal than the speed-heavy Letter and Category Rounds.
New Format
From 2008, the tournament was run on pyramidal questions. The 2008 and 2009 sets were provided by HSAPQ. NAQT provided the 2010, 2011 and 2014 sets. The 2015 set was a housewrite.
Per Year Breakdown
In 2007, the tournament was directed by Mike Bentley, who also served as the chief editor. The questions for this year were also allegedly mirrored at an Illinois junior high school tournament. TJ defeated Whitman in the finals to win.
In 2006, the tournament was directed by Casey Retterer, who also served as the chief editor.
In 2005, the tournament was directed by Casey Retterer, who also served as the chief editor.
The tournament has been running for many years, probably extending back to the mid-80s.
Results
It is possible, almost certain, that results for this tournament exist prior to 2000.