St. Charles Community College

St. Charles Community College
Location: St. Charles, MO
Current President or Coach	Professors Wanda Long and Richard Venn (advisors), Charles Hang (president)
National championships	2010 CCCT
NAQT Page	link

St. Charles Community College (or SCC) is a Community College located in St. Charles, MO outside of St. Louis. The SCC team was founded in the Spring of 2010 by Washington University in St. Louis player Charles Hang, who led the team to victory at the 2010 CCCT and to win the Top Community College award at the 2010 ICT.

Team History

Founding

The St. Charles Community College Quiz Bowl team was founded in late Fall 2009 by Charles Hang, an alumnus of nearby Francis Howell Central high school who had been dual enrolled at the Community College for several years and who at the time was a freshman player for Washington University in St. Louis. Having noticed the absence of a Community College circuit in Missouri (with the exception of Mineral Area College), Hang decided to establish a team at SCC, which had the advantage of drawing from an area rich in Quiz Bowl teams, including a number of players who were personal acquaintances of Hang.

As a result, the nucleus of the SCC team which came together in the 2009-2010 season was made up of alumni from Francis Howell Central High School, including former FHC players Jeremy Roznowski and Samantha Britton. However, the relatively slow pace with which the team came together meant that by the beginning of January, with mere weeks to go before the 2010 CCSCT, the team still had not met for practices, nor had it been entirely established as an official school sponsored club. Nevertheless, having already realized that under NAQT rules, he would be eligible to play for SCC despite having played for WUSTL in the previous semester, Charles Hang led the team to the 2010 CCSCT, the nearest of which was the Kansas sectional held at Cloud County Community College.

2009-2010 Season

2010 CCSCT

A total of two St. Charles Community College teams attended the 2010 Kansas CCSCT, the SCC A team consisting of Jeremy Roznowski and total novice Mike Janoski, as well as SCC B, which consisted of Charles Hang playing solo. The decision to split the team in two was made by Hang, who not only hoped that would St. Charles Community College qualify two teams for the 2010 CCCT, but also realized that his teammates would be able to answer more questions without him overshadowing them.

The result of the tournament fulfilled one of Hang's hopes, for though the SCC A team only went 4-7 at the tournament, coming in 9th of 12 teams, Janoski was a tournament high scorer, coming in sixth overall with 32.31 PP20TH, while Roznowski put up a reasonable 14.85 PP20TH. [1] The SCC B team took first by going 12-0, earning the team a bid for the 2010 CCCT. [2]

2010 CCCT

After the team's victory at the Kansas CCSCT, the team finally came together organizationally. Though the team remained unofficial and was funded entirely by Charles Hang, a core of several players nevertheless practiced in anticipation of the 2010 CCCT.

Even while it was being formal established, the St. Charles Community College team attended the 2010 CCCT held at Chipola College in Marianna, Florida. The team went 11-1 at the tournament, suffering a preliminary defeat against Valencia Community College before winning a series of close games against Northeast Alabama, Seminole, Chipola, and Snead State in order to face Northeast Alabama in a one game final which SCC won 410-225. In doing so, St. Charles Community College captured the 2010 CCCT championship title as well as a bid to attend the 2010 ICT in Division II. [3] SCC captain Charles Hang was also the tournament top individual scorer. [4]

Interlude

Between the 2010 CCCT and the 2010 ICT, the St. Charles CC team finally became officially established. The team obtained the support of Professors Richard Venn and Wanda Long as advisors and obtained official school funding. Also, the week after the 2010 CCCT, Charles Hang attended the 2010 Matt Cvijanovich Memorial Novice Tournament playing solo as SCC, taking 6th of 14 teams but winning an award as the tournament's top scorer. [5][6]

2010 ICT

The St. Charles Community College team won the Top Community College award at the 2010 Division II ICT in April by going 7-6. The team began by losing a close game against Chipola College before earning victories over Wisconsin, Truman State, and Arizona State. After two bruising losses to Rice and Harvard, St. Charles Community College finished the preliminaries with a victory over the University of Illinois to finish 4-3, thus clinching a place in the 2nd playoff bracket. [7]

Notably, the game between St. Charles CC and Truman State saw three Francis Howell Central Quiz Bowl alumni (and a grand total of five Francis Howell Central High School alumni) playing against one another. The St. Charles CC team featuring Charles Hang and Jeremy Roznowski (formerly of the FHC team) as well as Mike Janoski and Jared Lund (both of whom were FHC alumni) defeated Kevin Robb (also formerly of the FHC team) and the Truman State team 280-105. [8]

In the playoffs, the SCC team won close victories over the University of Ottawa, Princeton, and Cornell but suffered losses to Northeast Alabama CC, Carleton, and Caltech. Because of these losses, the team's winning of the Top Community College award initially seemed unlikely, and was only made possible by a greater number of losses on the part of the two other Community College teams in contention for the award, Chipola and Northeast Alabama. Thus, St. Charles Community College ironically won the Top Community College award at the 2010 Division II ICT despite having lost to both of the playoff teams also in contention for the award. [9]

Postseason

The St. Charles Community College team now seeks to solidify its Nationals victories by becoming an integral part of the Midwest Circuit through tournament hosting and attendance. Though Charles Hang will be transitioning to an advisory role next year, most of the team's remaining players will be returning, which will hopefully allow the SCC team to persist.

The team will be hosting its first tournament, the St. Charles Open, on July 17th, 2010.

Controversy

The decision of Charles Hang to play for St. Charles Community College despite being a student at Washington University in St. Louis who had played for WUSTL in the Fall of 2009 was viewed negatively by much of the Quiz Bowl community. A discussion thread was created on the Quizbowl Resource Center forums after SCC's victory at the Kansas CCSCT, where a number of individuals criticized Hang's actions as being in violation of the intent of creating separate tournaments for Community Colleges. [10]

In addition, upon being informed of the thread by Charles Hang several weeks after active discussion had ceased, SCC team member Jeremy Roznowski chose to post a highly inflammatory attack on those who had criticized Hang for his actions. [11] This post made out of anger at what he saw as a collective contempt for Community Colleges as well as in a misguided attempt to defend his friend and teammate earned Roznowski a swift ban and the thread a trip to the Forbidden Zone. [12]

Members

Freshmen: Charles Hang, Jeremy Roznowski, Mike Janoski, Jared Lund, Samantha Britton

Title Succession

NAQT CCCT Champion
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
2009 Reynolds CC	2010	None

External References

NAQT Results for St. Charles Community College