University of Illinois Lab
| University of Illinois Laboratory High School | |
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| Location: Urbana, IL | |
| Club Presidents | Jonathan Lau, Lawrence Zhao |
| Coaches | Chris Butler |
| 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 SSNCT: 2018 NSC: 2016, 2017, 2019 |
| 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, also known as "Uni" or "Uni Lab", is a university-funded lab school on the University of Illinois campus in Urbana. It includes a composite year for 7th and 8th grades alongside the standard four years of high school. As a result, Uni's quiz bowl program includes both a middle school team and a high school team. The team is coached by history teacher Chris Butler.
Although the school is known "Uni High" throughout the Champaign-Urbana area, teams from other parts of the state tend to refer to it as "Uni Lab", "Urbana U-High", or "University Lab School". People from other parts of the country often confuse it for the University of Chicago Lab School at national championships.
Uni's quiz bowl teams are directly affiliated with the University of Illinois Academic Buzzer Team, which provides staff for high school tournaments that Uni attends or hosts. Uni was the runner up at the 2019 HSNCT and placed third at the 2019 PACE NSC.
Middle School Feeders
Nearly all Uni Quiz Bowl players attended local "bad quizbowl" schools that participated in IESA leagues using questions from Avery Enterprises and Questions Galore. One of Uni's private school "feeders", Next Generation School, placed T-13 at the 2017 MSNCT in their first of two years of pyramidal competition and has noted alumni Tim Cho, Lawrence Zhao, and Arjun Kala. Champaign Franklin Middle School is the primary public school feeders and placed 4th at the state tournament in 2016, 3rd in 2017, and 4th in 2019. Notable players from Franklin include Dylan Bowman, Jonathan Lau, and Shreyas Singh.
The Early Years (2012-2017)
The Uni High Scholastic Bowl team first entered the local quiz bowl circuit in 2012 as the Uni Trivia Club and has since expanded to include a B team and a C team, with about 20 active members on all teams.
According to current coach Chris Butler, the team made its debut in 2012 by scoring -5 points against IMSA in round 1. 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, including those from the Chicago area.
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. 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.
Into the Big Leagues (2018)
Beginnings
Uni A largely went unnoticed until the team's strength began to grow in 2018. The addition of freshman history and science player Jonathan Lau meant the team had near-complete coverage of the entire canon. Uni A began a long string of first-place wins 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 and lack of administrative support.
Success at NAQT State
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.
Masonic Victory and IHSA misfortune
The following month, Uni clinched a first-place win over Latin in the Masonic tournament for the very first time in school history. 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. After losing to an IMSA team they had tied at fifteen by giving up the last five tossups, Uni defeated Macomb for the opportunity to play and lose to Stevenson 570-270. As a result, they did not even qualify for the fourth-place game, ending the team's hope of claiming the triple crown of Illinois state championships.
National Failures
At SSNCT, Uni placed 5th in the open division after a lackluster performance. 2018 also marked Uni's very first appearance in the HSNCT Playoffs after they surprised many by going 8-2 in the preliminary rounds, only suffering losses to Downingtown STEM and previous champions Hunter. Uni ultimately lost their first two games in playoffs to Lexington and Carnegie Vanguard, finishing t-51. Due to financial constraints and a lack of support from administration, Uni was unable to attend PACE NSC or any IAC events.
Individual Recognition
However, despite all the misfortune, 2018 marked the first appearance on the class AA All-State First Team (Tim Cho), as well as the first appearance on a NASAT team (Ethan Ashbrook on Illinois B). Tim Cho, Ethan Ashbrook, and Jonathan Lau were also selected for the local All-Sectional, again asserting Uni's position as the dominant Illinois team south of Chicago.
The Dark Horse Contender (2019)
Earlybird
A player poll conducted by Hanson Hao and Arjun Nageswaran during June of 2018 placed Uni Lab fourth in the state. Later, coaches and players from all over the United States voted for the top 25 teams in the country. Uni Lab came in 23rd.
On September 29th, 2018, Uni placed second at the Illinois Earlybird after suffereing back-to-back losses to IMSA, though they did manage to beat Stevenson A for the very first time in team history.
The up-and-coming Uni B suffered early losses to Glenbard North A and Latin B, finishing out the day by clearing the field in the second consolation pool.
Success at Solo
In October, Arjun Nageswaran, William Groger, and John John Groger launched a new system of ranking teams, designed to be a relative ranking rather than an absolute one (such as Fred Morlan's HSQBrank). The first ranking placed Uni Lab in the #2 spot, mainly because several strong teams (such as Taylor and Blair) had not played a tournament yet - the next set of rankings placed Uni at #6.
In the 2018-2019 season, the Uni A team unanimously decided to attend tournaments in the Chicago Metro Area to play against tougher competition. The first of these tournaments was the 2018 Scobol Solo, held at New Trier High School in Winnetka. Uni sent three players (Tim Cho, Dylan Bowman, and Jonathan Lau) to the tournament: Dylan and Jonathan placed 6th and 4th respectively, becoming the first players from Uni to ever compete in the finals. Tim was eliminated in round 4 after facing Ethan Strombeck.
Dylan won four categories simultaneously (Chemistry, Physics, Instrumental Classical Music, and Painting), while Jonathan won Biology with the second-highest conversion depth of any category champion (25.3%).
Winter Tournaments
On November 3rd, University Lab sent one team to the UIUC ACF Fall HS Mirror, where they placed second after decisively defeating IMSA, Auburn, and St. Joseph and losing against Detroit Catholic Central.
At the IHSSBCA Kickoff at Stevenson, University Lab A and B competed in the Über-Competitive division for the first time. Despite the absence of Ethan due to the IMEA music district festival, they managed to beat IMSA for the second time in a row, and avenged their previous loss to Fremd by defeating them in the first round. Uni A finished 2nd after back-to-back losses to Stevenson in a two-game final, and Uni B finished 7th of 10 teams.
On December 15th, the Uni quizbowl team finally achieved their first victory at the 2018 New Trier Varsity Tournament, with a 7-1 record. Although they lost to Chattahoochee due to negging, they managed to beat Stevenson a second time and clinch their first ever win against national powerhouse DCC.
In January, Jonathan Lau, Tim Cho, and members of the B and C teams participated in the 2019 Barron Robinson Memorial Tournament, where they sent "A" and "B" teams of approximately equal strength to the tournament. Jonathan Lau captained Uni "A", boasting the highest power count and PPG in the entire tournament, while Tim Cho captained Uni's "B" team and boasted the second highest power count and PPG'; the "B" team defeated the "A" team twice to take home the championship.
2019 State Series
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 once again, the team started the day with a match against IMSA; unlike 2018, Uni narrowly clinched a victory by 120 points. After defeating a Carl Sandburg High School team led by Aristotle Vainikos, Uni faced perennial powerhouse Rockford Auburn in the finals. After both teams failed to convert tossup 20 when Dylan gave an answer of "myelin" for "myosin", a quick power by Dylan clinched Uni's first 2A state title, making them the first school in IHSA history to win titles in both enrollment classes of Scholastic Bowl.
2019 Nationals
Uni was not expected to do as well at the 2019 HSNCT due to their greater strength in the mACF distribution; nevertheless, they were still considered a dark horse contender. Uni went 8-2 in the preliminary rounds, with losses to Vestavia Hills and Ladue. Uni's defeat of Friends Select in the first round of playoffs guaranteed them a better finish than in 2018. After earning a spot in the top 12, Uni defeated the tournament favorites TJHSST A with a stat line of 9/7/1, guaranteeing top 7.
In the semifinal, Uni defeated in-state rivals Stevenson A while Chattahoochee defeated Beavercreek, forcing a play-in game for the final between Uni and Chattahoochee. Uni's victory against Chattahoochee guaranteed them the best finish of any Illinois team in HSNCT history, besting the 2013 Loyola Academy team's 3rd place finish. Uni ultimately lost to Beavercreek 415-260, earning second place.
Expectations were high at 2019 NSC, as the team was better on mACF questions. Uni went undefeated in the 12 Saturday placement games, securing a spot in the top superplayoffs bracket. On Sunday, Uni defeated Rockford Auburn by just ten points, before avenging their HSNCT loss to Beavercreek by soundly defeating them 420-280. In the next three consecutive rounds, Uni was defeated by Montgomery Blair, TJHSST, and James E. Taylor before defeating High Tech. This left them with an identical record to Montgomery Blair, whom they defeated in the tiebreaker to finish third. Ethan Ashbrook made the PACE All-Star game and played with Ethan Strombeck, Hari Parameswaran, and Matthew Siff. They were defeated by Hanson Hao, Anson Berns, William Golden, and Fred Zhang.
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 #1 overall, with only two submitted ballots failing to rank them #1 (both of which ranked Montgomery Blair A there instead).
Tournaments
Uni made its 2020 season debut at the 2019 Groger Ranks Prison Bowl Online Mirror, where they played with a partial team for most of the tournament - this would be a theme, as Sasha Rushing and Ethan Ashbrook frequently had conflicts due to athletics. Uni won the tournament by defeating Hinsdale Central in the final game.
At their first appearance on the Illinois circuit, a Uni team that was again shorthanded for much of the day defeated Stevenson to clinch a victory. During the prelim rounds, Jonathan and Ethan broke the Hoppes-Mikanowski Limit with 83 and 100 PPG, respectively before Dylan arrived after lunch.
At their first ever appearance at the WUSTL Fall Academic Tournament, Uni defeated Miami Valkey in a two game final and Uni B placed sixth, earning them their first ever PACE NSC bid. Dylan and Jonathan broke the Hoppes-Mikanowski Limit with 123 and 74 PPG, respectively, and B team captain Lawrence Zhao made the All-Tournament team with 71 PPG.
The following week, Uni sent six students to compete in the 2019 Scobol Solo. Dylan Bowman went undefeated in the morning and finished second overall after losing to Govind Prabhakar on a tiebreaker; Jonathan Lau placed 5th after going 5-2 in the morning.
On November 23rd, Uni sent two teams to play at the IHSSBCA Kickoff tournament in Mattoon. For the third time in 2019, players on Uni broke the Hoppes-Mikanowski Limit (Dylan Bowman and Jonathan Lau); they also scored well as over 26 points per bonus. Uni B placed third due to being forced to play Uni A in the playoffs.
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 in a disadvantaged three-game 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. Uni B unexpectedly took four losses in the morning rounds and finished 27th out of 32 teams after dominating the lowest consolation pool.
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. Two days later, they dominated their IHSA regional, taking home the regional title for the sixth consecutive time.
Uni's 2020 season came to an unfortunate end with the cancellation of the national tournaments due to the COVID-19 outbreak. However, three members of Uni's A team were selected to the 2020 IHSSBCA All-State First Team, the most of any school that year.
End of National Dominance (2020-21)
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 was ranked 7th nationally by GrogerRanks after their strong performances at said tournaments. After more teams began playing online tournaments, Uni remained in the top ten in the December rankings, this time at 8th place.
Other Notes
Uni is the only school in the state of Illinois with IHSA State titles in both class A and AA.
Uni students assisted the University of Illinois quizbowl team in writing the 2019 ILLIAC set. Ethan Ashbrook wrote RMP, literature, and social science. Dylan Bowman wrote Fine Arts, Chemistry, and Physics. Tim Cho wrote American and European history, while Jonathan Lau wrote Biology, Other Science, World History, and Geography. Sasha Rushing and Lawrence Zhao of Uni B wrote in History and Science, respectively.
In 2020, Uni assisted with writing the LOGIC set along with players from Stevenson and Miami Valley. Later that year, Uni also assisted Stevenson, Lambert, and SCP in the Southeast-Midwest Housewrite.
Uni is the smallest school in quizbowl history to make the top 4 at both HSNCT and PACE in a single year.
Tim Cho Jeopardy Appearance
In 2018, Tim Cho (Class of 2019) appeared on the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament in Culver City, Calfiornia, where he was eliminated in the semifinals by eventual champion Claire Sattler by just one dollar. Tim was one of the most popular contestants in the tournament after he became viral on the front page of Reddit for doing a double-whip on national television. 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 and awarded her with just enough money to edge out Tim. Over the course of the tournament, Tim won $10,000.
| University Lab roster | |||||||||
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| Upperclassmen
Seniors (Class of 2021)
Juniors (Class of 2022)
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Underclassmen
Sophomores (Class of 2023)
Freshmen (Class of 2024)
Other Players (Class of 2025)
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Coach/President
Assistants n/a Other Notable People
Key (C) Captain (A) Alternate Captain | |||||||
Alumni
- Reed Phillips (2018)
- Vinay Koshy (Captain, 2014-15)
- Ben Schiffer (2016)
- Troy Xu (2014)
- Sofia Carillo (2015)
- Joshua Meling (2014)
- Bruce Li (2015)
- Darren Liu (2015)
- Sally Pennacchi (2015)
- Nick Shapland (2015)
- Jack Zieders (2015)
- Nicholas Liu (2016)
- Justin Wang (2016)
- Grant DeAtley (2015)
- Tommy Song (2015)
- Caroline Gilette (Captain, 2017)
- Andrew Stelzer (Captain, 2016-17)
- Matthew Reeder (2017)
- Emma Roese (2017)
- Sarah Grunisich (2017)
- Krishna Subbiah (2019, inactive from 2018)
- Lawrence Taritsa (2019)
- Martin Dalling (2019)
- Tim Cho (Captain, 2018-19)
- Robert Nagel (2019)
- Lia Dankowicz (2019)
- Dylan Bowman (Captain 2019-2020)
- Ethan Ashbrook (2020)
- Sasha Rushing (2020)
- Sam Polonus (2020, inactive 2018 onward)
- Srijan Shukla (2019, transferred to Conestoga High School in Berwyn, Pennsylvania)
- Andy Tang (2019, transferred to Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora, Illinois)
Notable Tournament Performances
2015 IHSA State Champions, Class A
2017 IHSA State Runner-Up, Class AA (moved from Class A in 2016)
2017 Masonic State Runner-Up, Class AA
2017 Inaugural South Central Solo: 2nd place, 3rd place, 5th place
2018 NAQT Illinois State Champions
2018 Masonic State Champions, Class AA
2018 Scobol Solo, 2 Finalists (Fourth Place and Sixth Place)
2018 New Trier Varsity Champions
2019 NAQT State Championship Small School Champions (3rd overall)
2019 Masonic State Champions (AA)
2019 IHSA State Champions (AA)
2019 HSNCT Runner-Up
2019 PACE NSC 3rd Place
2020 NAQT Illinois State Champions and Small School Champions
Six consecutive IHSSBCA Novice championships (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
Six consecutive IHSA Regional and Sectional championships
National Performances
2014 HSNCT: 211th/272
2015 HSNCT: 145th/272
2016 NSC: 62nd/96
2017 NSC: 51st/96
2018 SSNCT Open Division: 5th/64
2018 HSNCT: T51st/352
2018 NASAT: 13th (Ethan Ashbrook of Illinois B)
2019 HSNCT: Runner-Up
2019 NSC: 3rd Place
2019 NASAT: Champions (Ethan Ashbrook of Illinois A)
2019 NASAT: 5th (Tim, Jonathan, and Dylan of Illinois B)
2020 NASAT: Ethan, Dylan, and Jonathan of Illinois A (tournament was cancelled)
External Links
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