Scobol Solo
The Scobol Solo is an individual tournament held each November since 2001 at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. It is open to any high school student. It typically attracts many of the top players in Illinois and occasionally attracts players from out of state.
History
The Solo, as it is often simply called, was the second major individual tournament to be held in Illinois, following the demise of the Ultimate Scholar Tournament which originated at downstate Sullivan before being moved to the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. That tournament, run by Ken Johnson, ended when IWU could no longer provide the space for free.
This tournament has been directed by and written by David Reinstein since its inception. With the exception of the 2006 tournament, it has been held at New Trier's Winnetka campus. In 2006, New Trier was forced to close the weekend of the tournament due to a pertussis outbreak, causing the tournament to be moved to nearby Stevenson at the last moment.
In addition to the Scobol Solo, Donald Taylor has run annual individual competitions since 2006, first at the University of Illinois, then as a side event after the NAQT State Qualifier, and starting in Spring 2011 as a side event to ATROPHY at Northern Illinois University.
In 2010, Scobol Solo was mirrored at PORTA.
In 2010, Scobol Solo used a program Jonah Greenthal developed called Scobol Solo Statistics System, or SSSS. Moderators entered in results at the end of each match, and the results were immediately compiled into the tournament stats and posted on the internet. The program kept track of category stats, so ribbons for category winners could be handed out as soon as the rounds were completed.
Match Format
Each match consists of 20 toss-up questions. There are no bonus questions. Each question is worth one point, with no power or neg points, and ties are decided by sudden death. There are three computational questions in each match.
Categories
Current Categories
Since 2001, the following 8 categories have always been in use:
- U.S. Literature
- Chemistry
- Physics
- Biology
- U.S. History
- World History (which included European History for the first few years)
- Religion/Mythology
- World Literature (adjusted to World & European Literature in 2012, which was a change in name only)
In the first year, American Literature and American Dramas, Poems, and Short Stories were two separate categories, and all the other literature questions were in World Literature. British Literature was added in 2002, and American Literature was condensed into one category.
The other current categories:
- Current Events/Geography (added 2010)
- Curricular Math (added 2010)
- European History (added as "Western European History" in 2009, renamed in 2010)
- Instrumental Classical Music (added 2010)
- Military History (added 2010)
- Other Fine Arts (added 2010, "other" being defined as not painting or instrumental classical music)
- Other Math (added 2010)
- Other Science (added in 2010, "other" being defined as not biology, chemistry, or physics)
- Painting (added 2010)
- Poetry (added 2010)
- Social Studies/Philosophy (added 2010 as "Other Social Studies", renamed in 2011)
Discontinued Categories
- Algebra (2001-09)
- Art/Architecture (introduced as "Art" in 2001, renamed 2002, last played in 2009)
- Astronomy/Earth Science/Geography (introduced as "Astronomy/Earth Science" in 2002, renamed 2003, last played in 2009)
- Calculus/Combinatorics (introduced as "Calculus/Precalculus" in 2001, renamed as "Calculus" in 2002, "Calculus/Math History" in 2003, renamed in 2004, last played in 2007)
- Current Events (2002-09)
- Geometry/Trigonometry (2001-09)
- Language Arts (2001-07)
- Pop Culture (2001-08)
- Technology (2001-07)
- U.S. Drama and Poetry (2001)
Results
Notes
- Morning Champion
- Desperation Shot Champion (2001-2010)
Team Accomplishments
Schools with three finalists, all-time
- 14 - New Trier
- 11 - Auburn
- 10 - Wheaton North
- 7 - Carbondale
- 7 - Loyola
- 4 - Latin
- 4 - Stevenson
- 3 - IMSA
- 3 - Downers Grove North
- 3 - Fremd
- 3 - Maine South
Schools with two finalists, one tournament
- 3 - Wheaton North (2002)
- 3 - Auburn (2007)
- 3 - Stevenson (2010)
- 2 - New Trier (2002)
- 2 - New Trier (2003)
- 2 - Fremd (2004)
- 2 - New Trier (2005)
- 2 - Auburn (2006)
- 2 - Maine South (2006)
- 2 - Wheaton North (2007)
- 2 - Auburn (2008)
- 2 - Carbondale (2011)
- 2 - IMSA (2012)
- 2 - Loyola (2012)
Category champions
In addition to the finalists being recognized as among the best players, ribbons are given to any player who scores the most questions in each of the 20 categories.
Won a category three times
- 4 - Greg Gauthier (Geometry/Trigonometry, '04, '05, '06' 07)
- 3 - Greg Gauthier (Calculus/Combinatorics, '04, '06, '07)
- 3 - Paul Gauthier (World Literature, '01, '02, '03)
- 3 - Nick Matchen (Pop Culture, '04, '05, '06)
Won a category in consecutive years
- Astronomy/Earth Science/Geography: Zach Blumenfeld ('08, '09)
- British Literature: Paul Gauthier ('02, '03), Andrew Deveau ('09, '10), Lloyd Sy ('10, '11)
- Calculus/Combinatorics: Greg Gauthier ('06, '07)
- Chemistry: Carlo Angiuli ('05, '06)
- Current Events: Ian Secviar ('04, '05), Ben Cohen ('07, '08), Mike Penicnak ('08, '09)
- Geometry/Trigonometry: Greg Gauthier ('04, '05, '06, '07), Karen Li ('05, '06)
- Instrumental Classical Music: Dylan Minarik ('11, '12)
- Nonfiction: Nik Brendler ('02, '03)
- Pop Culture: Nick Matchen ('04, '05, '06)
- Physics: Greg Gauthier ('06, '07)
- Religion/Myth: Issa Domin ('08, '09)
- U.S. History: Garrett Ryan ('03, '04), Andrew Van Duyn ('10, '11)
- World History: Kelly Tourdot ('01, '02), Joe Ahmad ('07, '08)
- World Literature: Paul Gauthier ('01, '02, '03), Kristina Warren ('05, '06)
Won three categories in one tournament
- 2001 - Parag Bhayani (3-U.S. History, World Lit, Geometry/Trig), Kelly Tourdot (3-U.S. History, World History, Religion/Myth)
- 2002 - Paul Gauthier (5-World Lit, Language Arts, Geometry/Trig, British Lit, Current Events), Matt Keenan (4-Music, Biology, World History, Astronomy/Earth Sci)
- 2003 - Andrew Uzzell (4-Physics, Calculus/Math History, Language Arts, World History), Garrett Ryan (3-U.S. History, World History, Astronomy/Earth Sci/Geography)
- 2004 - Ian Secviar (3-Religion/Myth, Language Arts, Current Events)
- 2005 - none
- 2006 - Greg Gauthier (4-U.S Lit, Physics, Calculus/Combinatorics, Geometry/Trig), Kristina Warren (3-U.S. Lit, World Lit, Geometry/Trig), Siva Sundaram (3-Pop Culture, Language Arts, Geometry/Trig)
- 2007 - Greg Gauthier (5-Chemistry, Algebra, Physics, Calculus/Combinatorics, Geometry/Trig), Siva Sundaram (5-U.S. Lit, Art/Architecture, Religion/Myth, World Lit, Music), Dan Auerbach (4-Nonfiction, World History, Current Events, Astronomy/Earth Sci/Geography), John Brown (3-U.S. Lit, Biology, Brit Lit)
- 2008 - Ben Cohen (5-U.S. Lit, U.S. History, Nonfiction, World History, Current Events), Joe Ahmad (3-Music, World History, Vocabulary), Bonny Jain (3-Physics, Geometry/Trig, Pyramidal Math), Michael Jiang (3-Art/Architecture, World Lit, Nonfiction)
- 2009 - Andrew Deveau (4-Art/Architecture, Physics, Nonfiction, British Lit)
- 2010 - Ben Carbery (5-World History, British Lit, European History, Other Science, Military History), Lloyd Sy (4-World Lit, British Lit, Painting, Instrumental Classical Music)
- 2011 - Lloyd Sy (8-Physics, Biology, British Lit, European History, Other Science, Poetry, Other Fine Arts, Social Studies/Philosophy), Ben Chametzsky (4-U.S. History, Other Science, Social Studies/Philosophy, Current Events/Geography), Nolan Maloney (4-Chemistry, Physics, Biology, World History), Webster Guan (3-Physics, U.S. Lit, Poetry), Dylan Minarik (3-U.S. Lit, Painting, Instrumental Classical Music), Nolan Winkler (3-U.S. History, Religion/Mythology, Biology)
- 2012 - Dylan Minarik (7-U.S. History, Religion/Mythology, Physics, Other Science, Poetry, Instrumental Classical Music, Social Studies/Philosophy), Thomas Birt (3-U.S. History, European History, Military History), Anton Karpovich (3-Physics, Other Science, Current Events/Geography), Ian Torres (3-Curricular Math, Other Fine Arts, Social Studies/Philosophy)
7 categories won, career
- 14 - Lloyd Sy
- 13 - Greg Gauthier
- 11 - Paul Gauthier
- 10 - Siva Sundaram
- 10 - Dylan Minarik
- 7 - Ben Carbery
- 7 - Andrew Deveau