This past Saturday, Cornell hosted the 1st ever
Ron Loomis Pre-Regionals in beautiful (???) Ithaca,
NY. Despite tons of prior planning, the tournament
managed to break just about every rule in Craig Barker's
Tournament Director Guide--and still come off really
well:
For example:
--Only four teams showed up
--The
schedule was drawn up by Anwar Kashem in less than 30
seconds on the blackboard
--We played a triple-round
robin
--Tournament fees? Who needs tournament fees? Let's just play
for FREE!
--Prizes included Caymanian rumcakes,
English chocolate (with a Premier League color-and-cutout
playset), ugly Mexican soccer baseball caps, and a "Macho
Pak" of Slim Jims (for the last place team)
In
any event, despite all the potential logistical
problems, the tournament ran incredibly smooth. The
questions were first rate (all were written by the Cornell
team). We had more than enough staff (even if we would
have had a dozen teams, we would have had enough
staff). And everyone enjoyed themselves.
Many
thanks go out to Dwight and all the Cornell folks
(Andrew, Anwar, Eric, Evelyn, Jason, Steve) for helping
staff and with the planning.
Oh yeah, and I
think Rochester B ended up winning.
---Kenny
Peskin
Cornell AQO