HSNCT

The High School National Championship Tournament (HSNCT) is a premier national tournament run by NAQT every May, typically over Memorial Day weekend. The tournament is a two-day affair, with preliminary rounds Saturday and playoff rounds Sunday. There are also optional scrimmage rounds on the Friday before.

The HSNCT currently draws the largest field of any national tournament. In 2017 it attracted 304 high school teams from 235 different schools. The most common way to qualify for the HSNCT is to finish in the top 15% at a tournament using NAQT questions during the season, though there are some other ways.

Match Format

Recent HSNCT tournament sets have contained 26 or 27 packets, each of 24 tossups and 24 bonuses. The first two HSNCTs used NAQT's second-generation format of 28 tossups and 26 bonuses, with the possibility of tossups being read for tossup points only and no bonus potential if the end of the packet was reached. From 2001 to 2010, the packets had 26 tossups and 26 bonuses each.

Its distribution can be found here. Matches use NAQT rules, including ten-minute halves.

The 2009 HSNCT was the last to use math calculation tossups; since 2010, these have been removed from the distribution. Most HSNCT packets now contain exactly one computation bonus (and never more than one). Packets also contain non-computational math questions.

Tournament Format

In 2018 a new tournament format was introduced in which teams played seven power-matched preliminary games Saturday morning or seven power-matched preliminary games Saturday afternoon (with no byes), then played three more preliminary games in six rounds (and thus had three byes) on Sunday morning, followed by double-elimination playoffs on Sunday afternoon and evening, with 6-4 teams starting in the losers' bracket and a cross-bracketed match near the end of the playoffs to accelerate the double-elimination.

From 2003 to 2017, the format was essentially ten power-matched preliminary games over more than ten rounds on Saturday (so teams had several byes), followed by double-elimination playoffs on Sunday, sometimes with 6-4 teams starting in the losers' bracket, and a cross-bracketed match near the end of the playoffs to accelerate the double-elimination.

The 1999 and 2002 tournaments used swiss-pair prelims followed by a round-robin playoff bracket. The 2000 and 2001 tournaments used pre-scheduled prelims followed by the double-elim playoffs.

From 2001 to 2013, the HSNCT also recognized a Small School Champion. Schools fitting the criteria played as part of the regular tournament Saturday and Sunday. After they were eliminated from the regular tournament, they played in a separate set of playoff rounds that determined the Small School Champion. Since 2014 NAQT's Small School championship has instead been decided at a separate event.

Most years, select matches from the HSNCT are audio-recorded. In 2011 and 2012 some rounds were video-recorded by iHigh. Since about 2017 one match in each of the last few playoff rounds has been livestreamed.

Results

Year Champion Second Third Fourth Small School Champion Location Field Size 1999 Detroit Catholic Central Walton Brookwood Edmond Memorial, North Kansas City, & Edmond Santa Fe not awarded Norman, OK 26 2000 State College Maggie Walker Eleanor Roosevelt Eisenhower not awarded Atlanta, GA 52 2001 Detroit Catholic Central Detroit Country Day State College Riverdale not awarded Ann Arbor, MI 40 2002 St. John's Irmo Detroit Catholic Central Detroit Country Day Kent City Austin, TX 54 2003 Thomas Jefferson Dorman St. John's Walton Cutter Morning Star Myrtle Beach, SC 62 2004 Thomas Jefferson† Maggie Walker St. John's Detroit Catholic Central Cutter Morning Star Houston, TX 64 2005 Thomas Jefferson† Lakeside State College Solon Danville Chicago, IL 96 2006 Richard Montgomery State College Maggie Walker Detroit Catholic Central Danville Chicago, IL 128 2007 Maggie Walker State College Thomas Jefferson Dorman Danville Chicago, IL 160 2008 Thomas Jefferson Wilmington Charter Walt Whitman Dorman B Russell Chicago, IL 176 2009 Wilmington Charter Dorman State College Detroit Catholic Central Ottawa Hills Chicago, IL 192 2010 Maggie Walker State College LASA Bellarmine South Range Chicago, IL 200 2011 State College LASA Bellarmine Stevenson Meridian Atlanta, GA 224 2012 Bellarmine Detroit Catholic Central LASA Centennial Beachwood Atlanta, GA 240 2013 LASA Ladue Loyola St. John's Macomb Atlanta, GA 256 2014 LASA A St. John's LASA B Ladue (see SSNCT 2014) Chicago, IL 272 2015 Arcadia LASA Detroit Catholic Central IMSA (see SSNCT 2015) Chicago, IL 272 2016 Hunter Thomas Jefferson Detroit Catholic Central LASA (see SSNCT 2016) Dallas, TX 272 2017 Hunter Detroit Catholic Central Naperville North Thomas Jefferson (see SSNCT 2017) Atlanta, GA 304 2018 Plano West Hunter LASA Thomas Jefferson (see SSNCT 2018) Atlanta, GA 352 2019 Beavercreek University Lab Chattahoochee Stevenson (see SSNCT 2019) Atlanta, GA 336 2020 cancelled due to COVID-19 2021 Barrington University Lab Detroit Country Day Thomas Jefferson (see SSNCT 2021) Online 224 2022 Detroit Catholic Central Hunter East Chapel Hill Kinkaid (see SSNCT 2022) Atlanta, GA 274 2023 Barrington Buffalo Grove Detroit Country Day Hunter (see SSNCT 2023) Atlanta, GA 304 2024 Barrington St. Mark's Livingston Buffalo Grove (see SSNCT 2024) Atlanta, GA 320 2025 Livingston Northview Wade Hampton Henderson (see SSNCT 2025) Atlanta, GA 336 2026 Stevenson Lexington (MA) Strake Jesuit Park Tudor (see SSNCT 2026) Atlanta, GA 320 †undefeated Undefeated teams Eleven teams have completed the HSNCT prelims undefeated: The only teams to go undefeated for the entire HSNCT (and thus become undefeated champions) were 2004 Thomas Jefferson (VA) and 2005 Thomas Jefferson (VA). 2000 State College, 2019 Beavercreek, and 2024 Barrington went undefeated in the prelims, then won the championship after losing exactly one game in the playoffs. 2000 Maggie Walker A, 2003 Maggie Walker A, 2009 Georgetown Day, 2011 Dorman A, 2018 Wayzata A, and 2021 Hunter A went undefeated in the prelims, then were eliminated by losing two games in the playoffs. 2001 was the last year where multiple undefeated prelim teams were possible. In the power-matching format used in 2002 on, the prelims must end with either zero or one undefeated teams. Losses by champions Under the 2003-present format, the largest number of total losses that a team can have and still win the HSNCT is four (a team can enter the playoffs at 7-3 and lose exactly one game, or enter the playoffs at 6-4 and win all its games, and will win the tournament). Eight teams have won the tournament with exactly three losses, most recently Livingston in 2025. No four-loss team has actually won the tournament under the current format. In 2002 St. John's won the tournament with five total losses, playing under an older tournament format. This record is now unbreakable unless the tournament format changes again. Notes The 1999 format produced a three-way tie noted above. The 2017 format could have produced a two-way tie for fourth, but didn't. Formats used in all other years guaranteed distinct first through fourth place finishers (in some cases prior to the present format, by including third- and/or fourth- place playoff games at the end of the tournament among already-eliminated teams). The small school champion was named beginning in 2002, through a process of tangent playoffs at the HSNCT that lasted until 2013. Beginning in 2014, the NAQT Small School winner is named at the SSNCT. The HSNCT and the SSNCT were not held in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tournament Rankings Medal count Team Championships Finals Appearances (Top 2) Top 3 Top 4 Arcadia 1 1 1 1 Barrington 3 3 3 3 Beavercreek 1 1 1 1 Bellarmine 1 1 2 3 Brookwood 0 0 1 1 Buffalo Grove 0 1 1 2 Centennial 0 0 0 1 Chattahoochee 0 0 1 1 Detroit Catholic Central 3 5 8 11 Detroit Country Day 0 1 4 3 Dorman 0 2 2 4 East Chapel Hill 0 0 1 1 Edmond Memorial 0 0 0 1 Edmond Santa Fe 0 0 0 1 Eisenhower 0 0 0 1 Eleanor Roosevelt 0 0 1 1 Henderson 0 0 0 1 Hunter 2 4 4 5 IMSA 0 0 0 1 Irmo 0 1 1 1 Kinkaid 0 0 0 1 Ladue 0 1 1 2 Lakeside (WA) 0 1 1 1 LASA 2 4 8 9 Livingston 1 1 2 2 Loyola 0 0 1 1 Maggie Walker 2 4 5 5 Naperville North 0 0 1 1 North Kansas City 0 0 0 1 Northview 0 1 0 0 Plano West 1 1 1 1 Richard Montgomery 1 1 1 1 Riverdale 0 0 0 1 Solon 0 0 0 1 State College 2 5 8 8 Stevenson 1 1 1 2 St. John's 1 2 4 5 St. Mark's School of Texas 0 1 1 1 Thomas Jefferson 4 5 6 9 University Lab 0 2 2 2 Wade Hampton 0 0 1 0 Walton 0 1 1 2 Walt Whitman 0 0 1 1 Wilmington Charter 1 2 2 2 National Championships won by state Rank State Overall Titles Small School Titles† Most Recent Year 1 Virginia 5 1 2011 T2 Ohio 1 4 2019 T2 Illinois 4 1 2026 T4 Texas 4 0 2018 T4 Michigan 3 1 2022 T4 Kentucky 0 4 2007 T7 Pennsylvania 2 0 2011 T7 Maryland 2 0 2010 T7 California 2 0 2015 T7 New York 2 0 2017 T7 Arkansas 0 2 2010 T12 Delaware 1 0 2009 T12 New Jersey 1 0 2025 † = Small school champion no longer awarded at HSNCT. Awarded between 2002-2013 Links NAQT HSNCT website See also HSNCT Record Book PACE NSC, another high school national tournament National Academic Quiz Tournaments, LLC Tournaments Intercollegiate Championship Tournament · Community College Championship Tournament · Sectional Championship Tournaments (college)  · High School National Championship Tournament · Small School National Championship Tournament · Middle School National Championship Tournament · Individual Player National Championship Tournament Awards HS Team of the Week  · MS Team of the Week  · HS Player of the Week  · MS Player of the Week Members Seth Teitler (president) · Jonah Greenthal (operations) · Jeff Hoppes (communications) · Dwight Kidder (marketing) · Chad Kubicek (finances) · Nathan Murphy (logistics) · Jason Thompson (chief editor) · Emily Pike · Andrew Hart · Eric Bell · Joel Gluskin · Larissa Kelly · Andrew Yaphe · Bernadette Spencer · R. 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