University of Illinois Lab
| University Laboratory High School | |
| |
|---|---|
| Location: Urbana, IL | |
| Club Presidents | Lawrence Zhao |
| Coaches | Kaila Simpson |
| 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 and is now coached by Kaila Simpson. 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 as the school trivia club and initially did not compete in tournaments. The team made its official quizbowl debut the following year, where they scored -5 points against IMSA in their very first game. Despite placing 30th out of 40 teams at the 2013 NAQT State Championship, they qualified for the 2014 and 2015 HSNCTs and placed 201st and 145th respectively. In 2015, Uni won the Class A IHSA State Championship after a narrow victory against Peoria Christian.
Uni was moved up to Class AA in 2015 despite having only 250 students in its high school enrollment due to IHSA's "success factor" policies for schools that do not restrict enrollment to certain geographic boundaries. Uni did not place at the 2016 Class AA state championship, but placed second at the 2017 class AA IHSA tournament after a loss to IMSA. At the NAQT State Championships, Uni placed 11th in 2016 and 9th in 2017.
Growth (2018-2019)
Uni largely went unnoticed until the team's strength began to grow in 2018, when they became recognized as a state contender in Illinois and a top-50 team nationwide. However, Uni lacked many opportunities to play state powerhouses like Auburn, IMSA, and Stevenson due to its geographic isolation from the other top teams in the state.
While defending champion, Stevenson, was absent due to bad weather, the A team comprised of Tim Cho, Ethan Ashbrook, Dylan Bowman, and Jonathan Lau won the 2018 NAQT Illinois State Championship by narrowly defeating Rockford Auburn, becoming the first school from Downstate Illinois to win the event and 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.
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. At the IHSA State AA Championship, Uni did not place after losing to both Stevenson and IMSA. At their first SSNCT, Uni placed 5th in the open division, and later placed 51st at the 2018 HSNCT. The team did not attend the 2018 NSC.
That summer, Tim Cho appeared on the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament in Culver City, California. 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.
At the start of the 2018-19 season, the newly established GrogerRanks placed Uni in the top 10, 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. At the 2018 New Trier Varsity Tournament, Uni placed first and defeated national powerhouse Detroit Catholic Central for the first time.
At the 2019 NAQT Illinois State Championship, Uni placed third after losses to Auburn and Stevenson, then won the 2019 Masonic tournament for the second time. 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 both the winners bracket final and the championship match. At the 2019 NSC, the team placed third overall after losing to eventual champion Thomas Jefferson and runner-up Katy Taylor.
Continued National Success (2020-present)
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. At the 2019 New Trier Varsity tournament, they placed after losses to Chattahoochee, Miami Valley, and 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. In March, Uni placed first at the Masonic State Championship for the third consecutive time, then won their 5th consecutive IHSA regional title. Just three days later, the government of Illinois issued a lockdown order due to the spread of COVID-19 pandemic into the state. With the cancellation of HSNCT and PACE shortly afterward, the team's 2020 season came to an abrupt end.
In the 2020-21 preseason poll, Uni was ranked 26th overall, but omitted from many ballots. However, Uni solidified its place on a highly competitive Illinois circuit by placing third at the 2020 Earlybird. 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 due to safety concerns about the 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 before falling to Barrington in two games of an advantaged final. 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
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