The 2016 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Championship Tournaments ended the thirtieth State Championship Series conducted in Scholastic Bowl by the IHSA. It was the twenty-fifth season in which there were separate State Championship Tournaments held for small schools (Class A) and large schools (Class AA). For the twentieth year, both tournaments were held at the Peoria Civic Center. The tournaments were held on a Friday, March 18.
Notably, this was the final tournament under the supervision of IHSA administrator, Ron McGraw.
The tournament was hosted by Farmington (responsible for providing scorekeepers and timers, as well as arranging for set up at the facility). Equipment was furnished by Buzzersystems.com.
Advancement
Teams were assigned to one of eight sectionals within each class. Coaches then seeded the top 8 teams in their sectional. The IHSA then assigned the seeded teams to one of four regionals (1 with 8, 2 with 7, etc), with the remainder of the teams assigned to a regional geographically. The winners of the regionals would advance to their respective sectional tournaments, where they would play a three match round robin to determine a winner. The determination of the geographic boundaries of the Sectional was arbitrarily decided by the IHSA Office.
Tournament Format
Each round was comprised of 24 toss-ups and accompanying bonus questions.
In the State Championship Tournament, teams were randomly assigned to pools of four, and played a three match round robin. The winners of each pool advanced to the Championship Match, and the runners-up in each pool advanced to play for third place. Ties were broken by head-to-head results or total points scored among tied teams (in the event of a three-way tie).
The top four teams earned trophies and medals for team members, coaches, principals, and activities directors.
CLASS A
POOL #1
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Mater Dei |
270 |
Athens |
220
|
|
Latin |
490 |
Johnson City |
100
|
| 2 |
Latin |
490 |
Mater Dei |
130
|
|
Athens |
230 |
Johnson City |
220
|
| 3 |
Mater Dei |
230 |
Johnson City |
80
|
|
Latin |
420 |
Athens |
130
|
POOL #2
Third Place
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Mater Dei |
200 |
Riverdale |
190
|
Finals
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Latin |
430 |
St. Teresa |
260
|
CLASS AA
POOL #1
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
IMSA |
430 |
University of Illinois Lab |
320
|
|
Auburn |
630 |
Southwestern |
150
|
| 2 |
Aubrun |
500 |
IMSA |
340
|
|
University of Illinois Lab |
330 |
Southwestern |
280
|
| 3 |
IMSA |
510 |
Southwestern |
180
|
|
Auburn |
450 |
University of Illinois Lab |
390
|
POOL #2
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Barrington |
480 |
Macomb |
280
|
|
Hinsdale Central |
660 |
Sandburg |
130
|
| 2 |
Hinsdale Central |
540 |
Barrington |
290
|
|
Macomb |
380 |
Sandburg |
210
|
| 3 |
Barrington |
490 |
Sandburg |
130
|
|
Hinsdale Central |
430 |
Macomb |
310
|
Third Place
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| IMSA |
440 |
Barrington |
240
|
Finals
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Hinsdale Central |
440 |
Auburn |
360
|
Notes
- Class 2A featured notably three "smaller" schools - Uni-Lab (Urbana), Southwestern (Piasa), & Macomb
- Piasa is among the smallest public schools to have ever qualified for the Class 2A State Tournament with an enrollment of 487
- While being a laboratory school, Uni-Lab (Urbana), is the smallest school to date to qualify for the Class 2A State tournament with an enrollment of 252 students
- Auburn notably had the largest fan contingent of any of the schools, including its basketball student section. Auburn's State Finals appearance coincided with their basketball team's trip to the Peoria Civic Center that afternoon.
- This was Latin's first trip to State since 2009, marking a return after a seven year absence.