UBC
| University of British Columbia | |
| |
|---|---|
| Location: Vancouver, BC | |
| Current President or Coach | Carlos Doebeli |
| National championships | None |
| NAQT Page | link |
The University of British Columbia (UBC) quizbowl team was first established in 2003, and was re-established in 2017 after a 10-year hiatus. The team is based in Vancouver, Canada.
The new UBC quizbowl team was founded by Carlos Doebeli in 2017. The squad entered two teams in the 2017 ACF Fall tournament at the University of Washington, where they placed 5th and 6th. The team has continued to play in Pacific Northwest and Canadian tournaments, as well as online mirrors, with increased success starting in the 2019-20 season.
History
The first quizbowl team at UBC was founded by Grace Lam, and was then led by Mike Whitaker. The team had very quick success, though only against cross-town rival Simon Fraser or at VETO. A team from UBC finished 19th in DI at the 2005 ICT, the best result by a Canadian team in the top division until Toronto's 16th-place finish at the 2009 ICT.
The following year, some key players graduated and internal disputes - particularly between Fred Sheppard and Daniel Pareja - flared up across the Web. UBC's quizbowl reputation was somewhat tarnished by these events, though it is currently in a more peaceful existence now.
UBC regularly hosted BC Bowl and a mirror of the Ottawa Hybrid Tournament, and alternated hosting duties for the NAQT SCT with Simon Fraser University in the sparsely-attended Northwest region.
2017 -
After the revival of the UBC quizbowl club in 2017, the club regularly attended ACF Fall and NAQT SCT tournaments at the University of Washington from 2017-2019, while also hosting minor events for local high schools. In 2020, UBC hosted their first college-level quizbowl tournament in ACF Regionals, where they finished 2nd, and where their top 4 scorers were all rookies.
UBC attended 2020 SCT Toronto in Division I, which was the first SCT tournament for the majority of the team attending. Despite this, William Dawson finished 5th in individual scoring ahead of many very experienced players. UBC finished 5th in the closed online mirror of WORKSHOP, led by Lia Rathburn's 16 powers over 12 games.
When tournaments moved online in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, UBC were able to compete regularly against other Canadian teams in Eastern Canada.
At the 2021 ICT, a team of Lia Rathburn, William Dawson, and Brian Ning finished third in Division II, which was the highest Canadian finish in DII since McGill finished third in 2014. Lia Rathburn finished as the top prelims scorer.
At the 2022 ICT, a team of Carlos Doebeli, Lia Rathburn, Max Gedajlovic, and William Dawson finished ninth in Division I. Lia Rathburn finished as 5th overall scorer.