IESA

The Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) is the governing body for middle school and junior high school athletics and activities in Illinois. It is an affiliate of the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Although the vast majority of Illinois high schools are members of the analogous IHSA, many Illinois middle schools and junior high schools are not members of the IESA; membership is especially low in the Chicago area. It is unusual for high schools to have a team but not compete in the IHSA tournament, but there are many middle schools that have teams do not compete in the IESA tournament. That being said, there are about 400 schools that compete in the IESA tournament each year.

History

The IESA was founded in 1928.

The IESA began sponsoring a Scholastic Bowl State Tournament in 1988-89, with Canton (Ingersoll) beating Springfield (Grant) in the first ever Championship match. In 1997, IESA split into two classes, with Washington (St. Patrick) winning the first Class A (small school) Championship. Comparatively, the IHSA began their State tournament in 1986-87.

State Tournament Format

Since 1997 the IESA Scholastic Bowl State Series has divided schools into two classes based on size (designated "AA" for larger schools and "A" for smaller schools). Within each class, schools are assigned to one of eight geographic sectionals, and each sectional is divided into four regionals. Teams play to advance from regionals to sectionals to the state championship.

Unlike the IHSA, teams are seeded within their respective Regionals simply by win-loss percentage. Therefore, it is not uncommon for two elite schools to faceoff at the Regional level instead of at the Sectional level. Thus, limiting the advancement of elite teams to continue to State competition. The IESA uses a round robin-based format at the regional level (in contrast to the IHSA's use of single elimination), and allows for tiebreaker rounds if necessary. Regionals with more than four teams, which is most of them, have two round robin pools and the pool winners playing a single match for the championship. Teams are guaranteed at least two matches, so in the rare case of a two-team regional the teams play best-of-three. Each sectional has four teams play a round robin format. At all levels, pool ties are broken by playing five-tossup matches.

Originally, the tournament consisted of only a State championship match with the teams with the best records in each pool advancing to the final round. In 1993, a consolation match was introduced with the teams having the second-best records advancing to a 3rd/4th Place game.

Tournament Hosts

The IESA State Tournament has been hosted at many venues over the years. Since 2012, it has been hosted by the Peoria Civic Center, the former venue of the IHSA State Tournament. For many years the event bounced around the Bloomington-Normal area, due to its central geographic location in the state. Locations included Illinois State University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Heartland Community College, Bloomington JHS, & Normal Metcalf.

Match Format

IESA matches consist of 24 tossups and 20 bonuses. Excluding ties, the match ends when either the 24th tossup (and associated bonus) has been read, the 20th bonus has been read, or either team exceeds 300 points. Match ties are broken using tossups only; the team that is first to answer two tossups correctly wins.

All tossups are worth ten points; there are no powers or negs. All bonus questions are four parts, with each part worth 5 points each. Unlike in standard quiz bowl, but like the IHSA format used until 2012, the entire bonus is read before teams have any opportunity to confer or answer, so no bonus part can mention a previous part's answer, which significantly constrains the writing style. After the question is read completely, both teams have up to 30 seconds to confer; the controlling team may end conferral early. After conferral, the controlling team gives its answers, then the non-controlling team may attempt to answer any parts the controlling team missed.

IESA Scholastic Bowl rules contain many stipulations about behavior. Perhaps the most famous behavior rule is that when the bonus conferral period ends, all players must put down their writing implements; a penalty is given to any team with a player who does not do so, even if they are clearly not writing or communicating.

Protests are not allowed in IESA matches (rule 6, article 2, c2, case manual 6-1-2b). Coaches may call a "Clarification time out" in order to ask questions about a moderator decision, but not to protest the acceptability of answers.

Questions

For many years, the questions were provided by Questions Galore, with Avery Enterprises taking over after Avery purchased Questions Galore. Since 2023, the questions are provided by Reinstein QuizBowl.

IESA vs. IHSA

Historically, the IHSA has kept a great distance from quizbowl coaches and players, with change and reform taking a long time because of the lack of good communication between coaches and IHSA administrators. The IESA, while still using a top-down approach that limits communication, has shown far more interest in working in their community. Among other initiatives, the IESA sponsors a well-attended biannual meeting for coaches and officials with workshops which can be helpful to new coaches. The IESA has a link on its website which advertises local tournaments. The IESA also recently began experimenting with online scorecards.

The quirky rules, however, have been a barrier to crossover between IHSA and IESA officials. Many people who work IHSA events as moderators and scorekeepers have refused to work IESA events.

The IESA has a committee edit the questions before they are sent out and then gives the moderators time before the tournament to review the questions and submit edits.

State Championship Results

Years	Host	AA Champion	AA Second Place	A Champion	A Second Place
1988-89	Mattoon	Canton Ingersoll	Springfield Grant
1989-90	Mattoon	Mt. Zion	Toledo Cumberland
1990-91	Frankfort Summit Hill	Mt. Zion	Cumberland
1991-92	Springfield Franklin	Forrest Prairie Central	Dallas City
1992-93	Danville (North Ridge)	Chatham (Glenwood)	Morris (Saratoga)
1993-94	Chatham (Glenwood)	Chatham (Glenwood)	Morris (Saratoga)
1994-95	Metamora GS	Channahon	Bradford
1995-96	Metamora GS	Streator (St. Anthony)	Channahon
1996-97	Pekin (Edison) & Wenona (Fieldcrest)	Ottawa (Shepard)	Mahomet-Seymour	Washington (St. Patrick)	Wheeler (West)
1997-98	Illinois State University	Danville (North Ridge)	Washington (Centra)l	Bartonville (Monroe)	Griggsville-Perry
1998-99	Illinois Weslyan University	Springfield (Franklin)	Glasford (Illini Bluffs)	Bartonville (Monroe)	Effingham (St. Anthony)
1999-00	Illinois Weslyan University	Dunlap Middle School	Barrington Station Middle	Dallas City	Breese (All Saints)
2000-01	Illinois Weslyan University	Morton (JHS)	Cahokia (Wirth)	Normal (Metcalf)	Colfax (Ridgeview)
2001-02	Illinois State University	Streator (Northlawn)	Morton (JHS)	Mazon-Verona-Kinsman	Raymond (Lincolnwood)
2002-03	Normal (Metcalf) & Pekin (Edison)	Jacksonville (Turner)	St. Jacob (Triad)	Flanagan	Bunker Hill (Meissner)
2003-04	Normal (Metcalf) & Pekin (Edison)	Rockford (West)	Springfield (Franklin)	Springfield (Blessed Sacrament)	Catlin
2004-05	Normal (Metcalf) & Pekin (Edison)	Rockford (West)	Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright)	Columbia (ICS)	Paris (Crestwood)
2005-06	Heartland Community College	Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright)	Morton (JHS)	Normal (Metcalf)	Peoria (St. Vincent de Paul)
2006-07	Heartland Community College	Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright)	River Forest (Roosevelt)	Streator (St. Anthony)	Normal (Metcalf)
2007-08	Heartland Community College	Macomb	Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright)	Bloomington (Cornerstone)	Columbia (ICS)
2008-09	Heartland Community College	Macomb	Rochester	Metamora (St. Mary’s)	Bloomington (Holy Trinity)
2009-10	Heartland Community College	Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright)	Dunlap (Valley)	Normal (Metcalf)	Paris (Crestwood)
2010-11	Heartland Community College	Dunlap (MS)	Springfield (Franklin)	Palatine (Quest)	Bushnell-Prairie City
2011-12	Peoria Civic Center	Barrington (Prairie)	Dunlap (MS)	Normal (Metcalf)	Springfield (Our Savior’s)
2012-13	Peoria Civic Center	Barrington (Station)	Bloomington (JHS)	Palatine (Quest)	Champaign (Next Generation)
2013-14	Peoria Civic Center	Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright)	Danville (North Ridge)	Champaign (Next Generation)	Normal (Metcalf)
2014-15	Peoria Civic Center	Buffalo Grove (Aptakisic)	Morton (JHS)	Palatine (Quest)	Normal (Metcalf)
2015-16	Peoria Civic Center	Springfield (Franklin)	Rockford (Marshall)	Peoria (Academy)	Palatine (Quest)
2016-17	Peoria Civic Center	Barrington (Station)	Rockford (Marshall)	Normal (Metcalf)	Springfield (Christian)
2017-18	Peoria Civic Center	Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright)	Springfield (Franklin)	Palatine (Quest)	Peoria Heights (St. Thomas)
2018-19	Peoria Civic Center	Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright)	Springfield (Franklin)	Peoria Academy	Champaign (Next Generation)
2021-22	Peoria Civic Center	Barrington Prairie	Champaign (Edison)	Champaign (Next Generation)	Springfield (Christian)
2022-23	Peoria Civic Center	Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright)	Springfield (Franklin)	Palatine (Quest)	Spring Bay (Riverview)
2023-24	Peoria Civic Center	Buffalo Grove (Twin Groves)	Springfield (Franklin)	Champaign (Next Generation)	Normal (Metcalf)
2024-25	Peoria Civic Center	Springfield (Franklin)	Manhattan	Palatine (Quest)	Champaign (Next Generation) . The 2020 & 2021 tournaments were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike the IHSA, no aspect of the State series was conducted. Top Teams from the IESA State Championship Tournament Multiple State Titles Count Team Years 7 Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright) 2006 (2A), 2007 (2A), 2010 (2A), 2014 (2A), 2018 (2A), 2019 (2A), 2023 (2A) 5 Normal (Metcalf) 2001 (1A), 2006 (1A), 2010 (1A), 2012 (1A), 2017 (1A) 5 Palatine (Quest) 2011 (1A), 2013 (1A), 2015 (1A), 2018 (1A), 2023 (1A) 3 Champaign (Next Generation) 2024 (1A), 2022 (1A), 2014 (1A) 2 Springfield (Franklin) 1999 (2A), 2016 (2A) 2 Mt. Zion 1990-91 2 Chatham (Glenwood) 1993-94 2 Bartonville (Monroe) 1998-99 2 Dunlap (Middle) 2000 (2A), 2011 (2A) 2 Rockford West 2004 (2A), 2005 (2A) 2 Macomb 2008 (2A), 2009 (2A) 2 Barrington (Station) 2013 (2A), 2017 (2A) 2 Peoria Academy 2016 (1A), 2019 (1A) 2 Barrington (Prairie) 2012 (2A), 2022 (2A) Notable Milestones The 1991 IESA State Tournament saw the first title re-match between Mt. Zion & Toledo (Cumberland). The 1995 IESA State Tournament was the first tournament that did not feature a returning team from the year before The 1998 IESA State Tournament saw all four pools in both Class A & AA require tiebreakers to determine who advanced to each round. The 2001 Class A State Championship featured two schools from McClean County: Normal (Metcalf) & Colfax (Ridgeview) The 2004 IESA State Tournament saw Rockford (West) win the State championship in its first year with a program. The 2008 IESA State Tournament saw Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright) become the first team to appear in the State championship match 4-consecutive years The 2010 IESA State Tournament saw both Normal (Metcalf) & Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright) become the first three-time IESA State champions. The 2011 IESA State Tournament Class AA championship saw Barrington Prairie defeat Dunlap MS, a rematch of the 2000 Class AA championship between Barrington & Dunlap school districts. The 2012 IESA State Tournament saw Normal (Metcalf) become the first school in either class to become a 4-time state champion. The 2017 IESA State Tournament saw Normal (Metcalf) become the first school in either class to become a 5-time state champion. The 2019 IESA State Tournament saw Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright) overtake Normal (Metcalf) for the most state titles in either class and the first to become a 6-time state champion. The 2019 Class AA State Championship featured a rematch between Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright) & Springfield (Franklin). The 2023 IESA State Tournament saw Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright) become the first school in either class and the first to become a 7-time state champion. The 2023 Class AA State Championship featured another rematch between Lincolnshire (Daniel Wright) & Springfield (Franklin), the third meetup between both teams in the State title match. From 2010-2018, the Class A State championship featured either Normal (Metcalf) or Palatine (Quest) In 2010, Daniel Wright won the IESA Class 2A state title in the same season as their high school Stevenson won the IHSA Class 2A state title