Steven Wellstead

Steven Wellstead
Noted subjects	American History, Geography, Art
Current college	Case Western (2007-current)
Past colleges	N/A
High school	William V. Fisher Catholic (2003-2007)
Stats	HDWhite • NAQT

Steven Walter Wellstead I, also known affectionately as Sue, Assassin Boy, and Geo-Steve, is a 2007 graduate of William V. Fisher Catholic High School in Lancaster, Ohio and current sophomore at Case Western Reserve University. He has been active in quizbowl since his freshman year of high school, becoming one of the best players in Ohio before his graduation, and he is the current president of Case's Trivia Team.

High School

Freshman Year (03-04)

Steven got his start in quizbowl in the fall of 2003, when he attend team tryouts being held under longtime Fisher Catholic coach Lynn Stevenson. While there, Steven led all participants in scoring and was subsequently invited to be part of the team. Steven played in several tournaments as a freshman, including the annual "Battle of the Burgh", where he led his team in scoring. By the end of the year, Steven had worked his way to a position as the first alternate for the 2004 OAC Championship team, led by notable Ohio quizbowler Sarah Hickman.

Sophomore Year (04-05)

With the departure of Hickman and the rest of Fisher's 'A' team, Steven became a starter as a sophomore, playing alongside juniors Christine Kennedy, Kyle Rainier, and Chase Turner. Despite winning several tournaments, his sophomore season was largely unfulfilling, highlighted by a first round exit from WOSU's "In the Know" program at the hands of Columbus DeSales. To make matters worse, Steven's final tournament was the 2005 NAC, whose best quality was the fact that it was held at the Embassy Suites, which had a kickass pool and awesome buffet breakfast.

Junior Year (05-06)

It was during Steven's junior season that Fisher's program again began to blossom. With the dynamic one-two combo of Steven Wellstead and Kyle Rainier, not to mention captain Christine Kennedy pitching in as well, Fisher won nearly every tournament it competed in, including convincing wins at both the Copley Invitational and "In the Know." In the latter win, Steven earned the moniker "Assassin Boy" from Columbus Academy coach Andrew Morris after sweeping a Big Bonus on presidential assassinations. As recently as the 2008 NAQT Ohio State Championship, Morris has been heard referring to Steven as such.

Steven's dream season culminated in his team's victory in both the 2006 NAQT and OAC State Championships (over Tippecanoe and Walnut Hills, respectively), the latter of which earned him and his teammates a trip to Disney to participate in the infamous Panasonic Academic Challenge (PAC) as the representative for Ohio. Although actually competing in the tournament was somewhat disappointing--or more precisely, atrocious--to Steven, he was still able to salvage his trip with daily excursions to Disney Theme Parks. Unfortunately, Steven and his squad were unable to compete at NAQT's 2006 HSNCT due to graduation, so they again attend the NAC, where they went 3-3, failing to make the playoffs despite an almost heroic performance by Steven in his team's final game.

Senior Year (06-07)

Despite prevailing thought, the Fisher team of 2006-2007, now with Steven as captain, performed comparably to the 2005-2006 team, despite the fact that Steven was the only returning starter. Assisted by Joseph Nixon, Jill Guinan, and Jacob Snider, Steven was able to lead his team to several tournament victories, as well as back to both the 2007 OAC and NAQT Championship games. Unfortunately for Steven, however, Fisher came out on the losing end in both games (to Tippecanoe, avenging its previous year's loss, and Garfield Heights, respectively). Despite coming to terms with the fact that he was beat in the 2007 NAQT Championship by a clearly superior team, Steven always blamed himself for his team's loss in the 2007 OAC State Championship, in which he missed the Mathematics toss-up, resulting in a 6 point swing for his team (Fisher ultimately lost by four). To finish off his high school career, Steven and his squad attended the 2007 HSNCT. Despite finishing 52nd in individual scoring, Steven was unable to lead his squad, the entirety of which he outscored, to the playoffs, finishing with a disappointing 5-5 record.

Despite believing his season to be over, Steven was unexpectedly asked by Bob Kilner to accompany him with several other Ohio greats to the PAC in an unprecidented move in Ohio quizbowl. This marked the first time an All-Star team had competed from Ohio, since the OAC champion had always previously elected to take his/her own team. With an All-Star team, Ohio had definitive chances at contending for a spot in the finals, but this hope was dashed in the semis when they were beat out on the last question by California (who later went on to finish 4th in the finals). This match was notable in that noted Dunbar (KY) player Papa Chakravarthy sucker punched a fellow teammate for blurting out an answer when he shouldn't have. Reportedly, Ohio alternate and former Garfield Heights player Joe Wells was actually awoken from a slumber from the sound of the punch. This match mark the last time that Steven Wellstead played competitive high school quizbowl--though whether defining the PAC as "quizbowl" is a loose definition.

College

Freshman Year (07-08)

Upon entering college, Steven immediately became a member of Case Western Reserve University's quizbowl team, known on campus as the "Case Trivia Team", arguably becoming one of the team's greatest assets. Mid-way throughout the season, Trivia Team President Kristin Cameron mysteriously disappeared and was never heard from again. Steven took over the team as "acting president", becoming the club's official president with the start of his sophomore year. Steven only attended two tournaments as a freshman: the Frederick Douglass Tournament at Rochester and the 2007 NAQT SCT at Pitt. Steven was also the tournament director (TD) for the 2008 Great Lakes Regional Academic Championship, running the first successful tournament at Case in a long while.

Sophomore Year (08-09)

With Steven becoming the official president of the Trivia Team, he has decided to involve his team in more than just low quality NAQT tournaments. He plans on sending Case Western to as many mainstream collegiate tournaments as possible this year.

Steven's Collegiate Tournaments

The following are a list of collegiate tournaments Steven has attended.

Tournament	Date	Location	Notes
Frederick Douglass	9/29/07	Rochester	3rd in individual scoring
TRASH Regionals	10/10/07	Michigan
NAQT SCT	2/9/08	Pittsburgh	3rd overall in scoring; 2nd in DII
FEUERBACH	10/04/08	Carnegie Mellon	7th in individual scoring
EFT 3	10/11/08	Wake Forest
ACF Fall	11/08/08	Carnegie Mellon	11th in individual scoring
Illinois Open	11/15/08	Maryland
TRASH Regionals	11/16/08	Maryland
ACF Winter	1/17/09	Michigan
Penn Bowl Trash	1/18/09	Michigan	t.7th in individual scoring
NAQT SCT	2/07/09	Pittsburgh	9th overall in scoring; 6th in DII
NAQT ICT	4/3/09 - 4/4/09	Dallas