Hoppes-Mikanowski limit

The Hoppes-Mikanowski limit (or H-M limit) is broken when two players on the same team each score above 70 PPG in any format. It was first broken at the tournament 2000 NAQT IFT at Yale, by its namesakes Jeff Hoppes and Jacob Mikanowski (stats from this performance are sadly lost to the sands of time). Their accomplishment remained unmatched until the 2011 NAQT Illinois State Tournament, where Kevin Malis and Zach Blumenfeld of Stevenson became the second pair of players to do so.

Further investigation reveals that the stat in question may have been a pre-modern stat called PATH rather than PPG, and the original "limit" may not have been set at all; regardless, its power to inspire has remained.

Performances exceeding the Hoppes-Mikanowski limit

Players good enough to break the limit have become increasingly common over time as overall skill has improved, especially at the high school and middle school levels of the game. As a result, it has gone from a rare and exceptional event to something that happens several times a year.

Additionally, breaking the H-M limit shares many things in common with other achievements like grails in that they are typically very dependent on the field and thus are much more common when there is a large mismatch between the best team in a tournament and their competitors. It is consequently of primary interest to provide as much context of the events as possible.

Middle School

Corin Wagen and Ethan Russo (Kealing) broke the H-M limit at the 2012 TQBA Middle School State Championship on the way to doing the same at the 2012 MSNCT. Corin and Ethan were lead scorers on the Kealing teams that won the 2012 and 2011 MSNCT, and would go on to be top scorers for LASA alongside Alex Denko and Forrest Hammel.

Brothers John John and William Groger (Miami Valley) broke the limit the first of several times while in middle school at 2015 Give Thanks for Quizbowl II. Several years later, Arshaan Kahlon and Andrew Holzinger again broke the limit for Miami Valley at the 2019 Northmont Middle School Invitational.

Mihir Tadeparti and Thomas Catuosco (John Adams) broke the limit at the 2021 New Jersey Middle School State Championship.

Andrew Gao and Gregory Zeldovich broke the limit at 2023 LATTE, both exceeding 100 PPG. This is believed to be the first time two players of the same team have averaged 100+ PPG over the course of a tournament.

High School

Kevin Malis and Zach Blumenfeld (Stevenson A) became the second duo to ever break the limit at the 2011 NAQT Illinois State Tournament. They would go on to place 4th at both the HSNCT and NSC in 2011 alongside Mark Savin, Eugen Bulkin, Collin Shapiro, Joe Schlude, David Jin, and Jacob Rebnord, with Kevin being the top scorer at the NSC.

Graham Moyer and David Liu each finished above 70 PPG as they led State College to victory at the 2011 NSC. Christoph Schlom exceeded 50 PPG for the tournament, and all three had at least 70 during the prelim phase.

Nikhil Desai and Sameer Rai broke the limit while leading Bellarmine College Prep to a runner-up finish at the 2012 PACE NSC.

Mohan Malhotra (Wilmington Charter) was able to break the H-M limit at the Delaware Fall tournament in both 2013 and 2015 with Jaimie Carlson and Rohan Narayan respectively.

Devin Shang and Colin Cantwell (Lexington) broke the limit at the 2016 MIT Winter Academic Tournament. They formed the core of the Lexington team that placed 5th at the 2016 HSNCT with Reggie Luo and Duncan McCallum. That year they also attended NSC but Colin and Duncan missed most of the rounds and the team forfeited their final three games, placing 32nd overall.

Eliot Williams and Ethan Skinner (Davis) broke the limit together at 2016 Sacramento Fall Tournament, 2016 California Cup #2, 2017 California Cup #4, and 2017 Sacramento Spring Tournament #4. They were the lead scorers on the 25th place Davis team at the 2017 HSNCT.

Richard Chen and Jacob Shapiro (Friends Select) broke the limit at 2018 Philadelphia City-Wide Quiz Bowl Championship.

While in high school, John John and William Groger (Miami Valley) broke the limit at 2018 MSU Harvard Fall, the 2018 Thirteenth Annual Rowdy Raider Invitational, the 2019 Comet Winter Clash Invitational, the 2019 WUFAT, and the 2019 Fourteenth Annual Rowdy Raider Invitational.

Along with the Grogers, Dylan Bowman and Jonathan Lau of University Lab also broke the limit at the 2019 WUFAT. That year, Dylan and Jonathan joined Ethan Ashbrook, Robert Nagel, and Tim Cho on the University Lab teams which placed 2nd at the 2019 HSNCT and 3rd at the NSC; Jonathan was also lead scorer on the 2nd place Uni Lab team at the 2021 HSNCT.

Charles Young and Liam Starnes of Barrington broke the limit at the 2020 David Riley Memorial Kickoff Tournament. Later that season, Charles and Liam would be joined by Michael Karpov, Rohan Kher, and Timothy Price on the 1st place Barrington team at the 2021 HSNCT.

Ned Tagtmeier and Aayush Goodapaty (St. Mark's A) broke the limit at the 2021 Small School National Championship Tournament, becoming the third duo to break the limit at a high school national tournament. As of 2023, they remain the only duo of the five that have broken H-M at a national tournament to do so with negs and without 20-point powers (which were instead worth 15 points).

Arjun Kala and Lawrence Zhao of University Lab broke H-M at the Centennial (IL) site of the 2021 David Riley Memorial Kickoff Tournament. They played alongside Jonathan Lau, Shoorsen Gandhi, and Janaki Kapadia on the 2nd place Uni Lab team at the 2021 HSNCT.

Two duos would break the limit at the 2023 NSC: Rohan Kher and Charles Young of Barrington and Ali Hamzeh and Cole Hartung of Kinkaid. The two are the fourth and fifth duos to accomplish the feat at a high school national tournament. Barrington would go on to win the tournament alongside Michael Karpov, Colin Stewart, and Aayra Singh, while Kinkaid would finish 10th on a team with Will Pielop and Blake Davidson. The accomplishment also marked Charles Young's second time breaking the limit, this time with a different teammate.

College

Adam Silverman and Will Butler (Georgia Tech) broke the limit at the Emory mirror of the 2013 VCU Closed.

Sinan Ulusoy and Trevor Davis (Alberta) broke the limit at the Ottawa mirror of 2013 Penn Bowl.

Matt Bollinger and Tommy Casalaspi (Virginia) broke the limit while playing short-handed at 2015 STIMPY. Matt and Tommy were part of the Virginia teams which had won 2012 ICT, swept the two nationals in 2014, and would go on to win the 2015 ICT.

Taylor Harvey and Tracy Mirkin (Florida) broke the limit while playing 22-tossup rounds at the 2020 Michigan Winter (note that there is a potentially-irreversible statistical input error in these stats). Taylor and Tracy would play together on the Florida team which won the 2021 ACF Nationals.

Open

The H-M limit is rarely broken at the open level, due to tendency for such tournaments to be harder and have stiffer competition. As a result, many instances of the limit being broken are at single-subject side events by teams of strong specialists in the category at hand.

• 2015 Missouri Open (24-tossup rounds) Minnesota mirror: Rob Carson (128.5 PPG) and Andrew Hart (82.86 PPG) (open team; Andrew played 5.25 rounds of ten)
• 2018 FILM (included superpowers) Illinois mirror: Matt Lafer (95 PPG) and Mike Cheyne (91.11 PPG)
• 2019 MUSES (included superpowers) Illinois mirror: John Lawrence (76.36 PPG) and Auroni Gupta (72.27 PPG)
• 2021 JORDU Main site: Aseem Keyal (85.83 PPG) and John Lawrence (78.33 PPG)
• 2022 MUSES III (included 20-point powers and 30-point superpowers) First Online Mirror: Matt Bollinger (103.75 PPG) and Matt Jackson (76.88 PPG)
• 2023 CLEAN Online Mirror: John Lawrence (114.17 PPG) and Stephen Liu (70.83 PPG)