University of Illinois Lab

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University of Illinois Laboratory High School
Uniwebmask.png
Location:
Urbana, IL
Club Presidents Lawrence Zhao
Coaches TBD
State Championships 2015 IHSA (A), 2019 IHSA (AA)
2018, 2020 NAQT(Small School and Overall)
2018, 2019, 2020 Masonic (AA)
National Appearances MSNCT: 2018
HSNCT: 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021
SSNCT: 2018
NSC: 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021
Program Status Active
School Size 250 students in grades 9–12
NAQT Page link
Not to be confused with Normal University High School or University of Chicago Laboratory School.

University of Illinois Laboratory High School, commonly known as "Uni" or "Uni Lab", is a public middle and high school on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana. Uni was the runner up at both the 2019 and 2021 HSNCTs and placed third at the 2019 PACE NSC. The team was coached by Chris Butler from 2012 to his retirement in 2021. The team is also closely affiliated with the quizbowl team at the University of Illinois due to geographic proximity on the UIUC campus.

The Early Years (2012–2017)

The Uni High Scholastic Bowl team was founded in 2012 and was initially a more casual school club that did not take part in actual tournaments. According to current coach Chris Butler, the team made its official quizbowl debut the following year by scoring −5 points against IMSA in the first round. Despite placing 30th out of 40 teams at the 2013 NAQT State Championship, they qualified for the 2014 and 2015 HSNCTs due to high finishes at downstate Illinois tournaments with weak fields and placed 201st and 145th respectively. In 2015, Uni won the Class A IHSA State Championship after a narrow victory against Peoria Christian, but was frequently outcompeted by larger teams across the state.

Uni was moved up to class AA in 2015 despite having only 250 students in its high school enrollment due to IHSA's controversial success factor policies. The presence of Tim Cho, Ethan Ashbrook, and Dylan Bowman meant that Uni became to a regional power. In its first appearance in the IHSA State AA Finals in 2016, Uni went 1–2 in a strong pool and missed playoffs. The team placed second at the 2017 class AA IHSA tournament, losing to IMSA 500–320 in the championship round after an upset victory against Rockford Auburn. At the NAQT State Championships, Uni placed 11th in 2016 and 9th in 2017. Uni placed second at the Masonic Tournament, losing to Chicago Latin in the finals. Nevertheless, Uni was not considered a state contender and did not show up in national rankings or discussion.

Growth (2018-2019)

Uni largely went unnoticed until the team's strength began to grow in 2018. Uni A began a long string of first-place wins against local teams with the IHSSBCA Kickoff at Mattoon and quickly became recognized as a state contender in Illinois. Even as they entered the national scene, Uni lacked many opportunities to play state powerhouses like Auburn, IMSA, and Stevenson due to its geographic isolation from the other top teams.

While defending champion, Stevenson, was not present because of poor weather and icy conditions, a team comprised of Tim Cho, Ethan Ashbrook, Dylan Bowman, and Jonathan Lau won the 2018 NAQT Illinois State Championship by narrowly defeating Auburn in an advantaged final 350–320, finishing out the tournament with a 12–1 record. Uni became the very first school from Downstate Illinois to win the event. With only about 320 students, it also became the smallest ever school to win a large school or open division tournament in Illinois. Uni also became the first team to win the championship with all four starters posting over 20 PP20TUH for the tournament.

The following month, Uni clinched a first-place win over Latin in the Masonic tournament for the very first time in school history, after losing to them in the finals of the previous two Masonic championships. Uni then cleared the field at IHSA State sectionals after traveling 100 miles north to Streator. At the IHSA State AA Championship, Uni was placed in the same pool as perennial champions Stevenson and IMSA, losing to both teams and missing the playoffs. At their first SSNCT, Uni placed 5th in the open division. 2018 also marked Uni's very first appearance in the HSNCT Playoffs after they went 8–2 in the preliminary rounds. However, they ultimately lost their first two games in playoffs to Lexington and Carnegie Vanguard, finishing T-51. The team did not attend the 2018 NSC.

That summer, Tim Cho appeared on the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament in Culver City, Calfiornia. After winning the quarterfinal game, he was eliminated in the semifinals by eventual champion Claire Sattler by just one dollar. Tim's elimination was a subject of much controversy as Sattler had incorrectly answered a question about the meaning of the acronym "RPM" as "rotations per minute" rather than the correct meaning, "revolutions per minute"; however, the judges accepted her answer as correct which gave her just enough money to edge out Tim.

Uni kicked off the 2019 season at the Illinois Earlybird tournament, where they finished second after losing to IMSA. The newly established GrogerRanks placed Uni in the top 10 teams early in the season, though this was because many teams had not yet played a tournament for which a Groger score could be calculated. The A team also decided to attend tournaments in the Chicago Metro Area to play against tougher competition, beginning with the 2018 Scobol Solo, where two of its members placed fourth and sixth in the finals. At the IHSSBCA Kickoff at Stevenson, University Lab A and B competed in the Über-Competitive division for the first time, avenging their Earlybird loss against IMSA before falling to the tournament's hosts in two games. On December 15th, the Uni quizbowl team finally achieved a first place win at the 2018 New Trier Varsity Tournament, beating national powerhouse DCC for the first time in school history.

At the 2019 NAQT Illinois State Championship, Uni placed first in the small school division and third overall after close losses against Stevenson and Auburn, who went on to play in the finals. Uni B placed second in the small school division and ninth overall. At the Masonic State Championships, Uni repeated their championship from the previous year by defeating Chicago Christian High School from Palos Heights, IL after losing by ten points in the prelims. In the IHSA State Series, the team advanced to their sixth consecutive appearance at the IHSA state tournament and won their first ever Class AA title after victories against IMSA, Carl Sandburg, Springfield, and Rockford Auburn.

At the 2019 HSNCT, Uni went 8–2 in the preliminary rounds, then went on an undefeated streak in the playoffs before falling to Beavercreek in the winners bracket finals and the championship match. Their second place finish was the highest HSNCT finish by an Illinois team until Barrington's first place finish in 2021. At the 2019 NSC, the team placed third overall after losing to eventual champion Thomas Jefferson and runner-up Katy Taylor.

National Favorites (2020)

Despite the loss of top history player Tim Cho, most people in the quizbowl community named Uni as the favorites to win the 2020 national season due to the impressive depth and generalism of Ethan Ashbrook and Dylan Bowman. On the 2019 Groger Ranks Preseason Poll, Uni was ranked first on all but two of the submitted ballots.

During the 2019-20 season, Uni played without a full team for the majority of their tournaments, but still managed to secure several victories against top teams in the region at tournaments such as Earlybird and WUFAT. Uni sent six students to compete in the 2019 Scobol Solo, where Dylan Bowman placed second and Jonathan Lau placed fifth. On December 14th, a shorthanded Uni attended their second New Trier Varsity tournament. However, they placed fourth after losses to Chattahoochee, Miami Valley, and eventual champion Stevenson.

In the 2020 NAQT Illinois State Championship, Uni was the highest-seeded team and placed first after defeating Stevenson twice in a disadvantaged final. Uni A was the only team at the event with three players at over 50 points per game, and Jonathan Lau made the All-Tournament team with 82 points per game in the morning rounds.

On March 9th, Uni placed first at the Masonic State Championship for the third consecutive time by defeating Chicago Christian in the final, despite the absence of Jonathan Lau. The following Monday, they dominated their IHSA regional and took home their fifth consecutive title. Just three days later, the government of Illinois issued a lockdown order due to the inevitable spread of COVID-19 pandemic into the state, which put a permanent end to what would have been one of Uni's best seasons in history.

Continued National Success (2020–present)

Following the departure of Dylan Bowman and Ethan Ashbrook, voted the 12th and 13th best players in the country, most people in the community expected Uni to fade away from the national quizbowl scene due to its very small enrollment size. On the preseason poll, Uni was ranked 26th overall, but omitted from many ballots.

However, Uni solidified its place on a highly competitive Illinois circuit at the 2020 Earlybird, where they placed third after a close loss to Barrington and a convincing win over Stevenson, and also boasted the highest power count, highest team PPG, and the third-highest PPB. At the subsequent LIT Mirror, Uni placed first in the field with an undefeated record. The A team consistently ranked in the top 10-15 teams due to their performances throughout the season and significant improvement by players who had moved up from the previous year's B team.

Like many teams in Illinois, Uni did not attend the in-person 2021 IHSA state series because of safety concerns about the still-ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This ended the team's five-year streak of regional and sectional championships titles. At the 2021 HSNCT, the team went undefeated in playoffs, taking down other top contenders such as Hunter and Wayzata before finally falling to Barrington in the finals. This was the second time the team had achieved a runner-up finish at the tournament, the first being in 2019. At the 2021 PACE NSC, the team placed 16th after taking losses to Greenhill, Hunter, and Belmont.

National Results

  • 2014 HSNCT: 211th/272
  • 2015 HSNCT: 145th/272
  • 2016 NSC: 62nd/96
  • 2017 NSC: 51st/96
  • 2018 SSNCT 5th/64 (Open Division)
  • 2018 HSNCT: 51st/352
  • 2019 HSNCT: 2nd/336
  • 2019 NSC: 3rd/96
  • 2021 HSNCT: 2nd/224
  • 2021 NSC: 16th/80

External Links

NAQT Illinois State Champions

Champions (2005-pres)
Stevenson (2005) · Stevenson (2006) · New Trier (2007) · Auburn (2008) · Auburn (2009) · Auburn (2010) · Stevenson (2011) · Auburn (2012) · IMSA (2013) · IMSA A (2014) · Auburn (2015) · Auburn (2016) · Stevenson A (2017) · UIUC Lab (2018) · Auburn (2019) · UIUC Lab (2020) · Buffalo Grove (2022)
Small School Champions (2013-pres)
Peoria Christian (2013) · Litchfield (2014) · Macomb A (2015) · Macomb A (2016) · Southwestern A (2017) · UIUC Lab (2018) · UIUC Lab (2019) · UIUC Lab (2020) · UIUC Lab (2022)

IHSA State Championship

1987-91
Quincy (1987) · Quincy (1988) · IMSA (1989) · IMSA (1990) · Centralia (1991)
Class AA (1992-present)
Hinsdale Central (1992) · Quincy (1993) · IMSA (1994) · Richwoods (1995) · IMSA (1996) · IMSA (1997) · IMSA (1998) · IMSA (1999) · Stevenson (2000) · IMSA (2001) · Wheaton North (2002) · Wheaton North (2003) · Wheaton North (2004) · Stevenson (2005) · Fremd (2006) · New Trier (2007) · Auburn (2008) · Carbondale (2009) · IMSA (2010) · IMSA (2011) · IMSA (2012) · IMSA (2013) · IMSA (2014) · Auburn (2015) · Hinsdale Central (2016) · IMSA (2017) · Stevenson (2018) · University Lab (2019)
Class A (1992-present)
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