Columbia wins first annual Rutgers tournament, state title

   NEW BRUNSWICK, April 22: Captain Robert Flaxman's individual achievements and the fine supporting play of Mike Bisberg, Alex Frankel, Matt Gline, and Lauren Kitchen were the highlights of the Columbia Quiz Bowl A team's domination in the preliminary rounds leading to a romp over Livingston in the final match at the first annual Rutgers University Academic Tournament.  With the win, Columbia took home the NAQT state championship.  The Cougars had not necessarily expected to do so well, but with just eleven teams scheduled to be in the Rutgers field because of spring break, a playoff appearance had certainly seemed to be in the cards.

    It was more than in the cards.  Only ten teams were on hand, with a total of just six schools - Columbia, Governor Livingston, Verona, Old Bridge (all of whom brought two teams), St. Peter's Prep (a team playing in their first tournament ever), and Livingston High School - in attendance.  Only four of the ten teams would advance to the semifinals, and Columbia, though knowing little about much of the competition, figured they could pull out at least the fourth spot.

    As it turned out, the team went 9-0 in the preliminary rounds, averaging a 295-60 victory.  Some of the more lopsided romps included a 210-0 blanking of the CHS B team, a 345-10 stomping of Old Bridge A, and a 340-5 pasting of Governor Livingston A.  Columbia's closest match came against Livingston, as the Lancers mounted a desperate come-from-behind rally that fell short when Flaxman correctly answered the last tossup of the match for Columbia, giving the Cougars a 250-205 win.

    Moving into the playoffs, Columbia struggled in the semis but pulled off a 170-80 win over St. Peter's Prep, a team they had defeated 360-90 in the first preliminary round.  This moved the Cougars into the finals, where they once again faced Livingston.

    Flaxman expected a dogfight.  "The game we'd played against them in the preliminaries was really close.  I mean, we just traded questions for a long time, and I think in the end we just did better on the bonuses than they did.  But then we came up against them in the finals and it was like they just lay down."  Columbia raced to a 175-50 lead at the half and didn't look back, trouncing the Lancers 330-50 to win the state title.

    The NAQT tournaments are structured like so: each round consists of 20 toss-up questions.  Each is worth 10 points.  If a player rings in very early, before a designated point, they can get a "power" bonus of five points, making the question worth 15.  However, if the player rings in before the question has not been completed and gets it wrong, they lose five points for the team.   When a toss-up is answered correctly, the team that got it gets a chance at a bonus.  Each bonus is worth a potential total of 30 points, but they are usually structured in a way that asks several questions and assigns them point values that add up to 30.

    The NAQT also keeps track of statistics, including most individual points (toss-ups only), most questions answered early for "power", and most neg-5s - most questions answered incorrectly before the question had been finished.  Columbia finished first in all three categories in the preliminary rounds (stats for the playoffs were not included).  Flaxman's 75.0 points per game were well more than double his closest competitor, Livingston's captain, who scored 33 per game.   Flaxman also led the tournament in power questions, with five, and tied with Mike Bisberg (who received the official honor) as well as a member of the Verona B team for most neg-5s, with five.

    Flaxman says his favorite question of the day was one of the five preliminary round questions he hit on power (he hit three more for power in the win over Livingston), coming during the 340-5 win over Governor Livingston A in Round Eight.  "The question started off 'Maria and Luis got married and had baby Gabriela.'  Before they had even finished reading Gabriela I just buzzed in and said, 'Sesame Street.'  I couldn't even believe I'd gotten it that fast.  I just heard Maria and Luis and something in my head clicked."

    Despite his individual achievements, Flaxman says the tournament was definitely a team effort.  "I may have averaged 75 points per game on toss-ups, but that's still only about half of our total toss-up score.  If it was just me we couldn't have won.  Mike was huge today, and Lauren, Matt, and Alex all hit some key questions that really helped us win."

    Overall, the team was thrilled with their victory.   "This is much better than I think any of us could have hoped for coming in," Flaxman said.  "We knew that with only eleven teams we could make a good showing, but I know nobody predicted us winning.  When I saw Ridgewood was here on the schedule, I figured they'd beat us, but then it turned out they weren't here after all.  I know coming in #1 in the state isn't so impressive when only ten teams were competing, but we're still happy with it."

    "After we won at Bloomfield I was expecting good things at Secaucus [which was held on April 15], since we won it last year, and then we only came in sixth and didn't make it out of the quarters, which was kind of a downer.   This was my last tournament at the high school level and I'd be lying if I said I came in expecting to win.  But it's a hell of a way to go out."

COLUMBIA'S RESULTS AT RUAT

Preliminary Round One: Columbia A 360, Saint Peter's Prep 90.
Preliminary Round Two: Columbia A 210, Columbia B 0.
Preliminary Round Three: Columbia A 205, Old Bridge B 35.
Preliminary Round Four: Columbia A 285, Verona A 65.
Preliminary Round Five: Columbia A 315, Verona B 65.
Preliminary Round Six: Columbia A 345, Old Bridge A 10.
Preliminary Round Seven: BYE (Ridgewood not in attendance)
Preliminary Round Eight: Columbia A 340, Governor Livingston A 5.
Preliminary Round Nine: Columbia A 345, Governor Livingston B 65.
Preliminary Round Ten: Columbia A 250, Livingston 205.
Preliminary Round Eleven: BYE
Semifinals: #1 Columbia 170, #4 St. Peter's Prep 80.
Finals: #1 Columbia 330, #2 Livingston 50.

INDIVIDUAL HONORS

Most Points Per Game (preliminary rounds; toss-up only): Robert Flaxman, Columbia A, 75.0
Most Power Toss-Ups (preliminary rounds): Robert Flaxman, Columbia A, 5
Most Neg-5s (preliminary rounds): Mike Bisberg, Robert Flaxman, Columbia A, 5 each