Difference between revisions of "Western Kentucky"

Revision as of 23:38, 20 February 2014

Western Kentucky University is a large public university located in Bowling Green, Kentucky.

History

WKU's Academic Competition Club was unofficially founded in November 2009 when three former Kentucky high school quizbowl players (Nick Conder, Brian Riddle, and Shawna Felkins) realized they went to the same school. The team became university-sanctioned in February 2010 and attended two tournaments in the 2009-10 season. During the 2010-11 season, the club began hosting high school tournaments and competed in five collegiate events. The 2011-12 season saw the team compete in five collegiate events while also hosting three high school tournaments and a mirror of Penn Bowl.

Performance

The WKU team regularly attends tournaments hosted by ACF and NAQT, in addition to other circuit tournaments that use pyramidal quizbowl questions. The team started off quite poorly, posting a losing record in each of its first three seasons. The arrival of Matthew Riggle in the 2012-13 season allowed the team to have another scoring threat than Conder, which allowed them to post top bracket finishes at ACF Fall and SCT. With the addition of dual-enrolled high school player Alex Malone, WKU managed a 10th place finish in Division II at the 2013 ICT.

In the 2013-14 season, another influx of talent has led to even bigger accomplishments. They took the top two spots at Kentucky's mirror of Collegiate Novice, finishing 3rd at WKU's mirror of the Michigan Fall Tournament, and finishing 6th at ACF Fall Southeast at Georgia Tech. In February 2014, a car driven by Riggle with 4 other WKU players in it was involved in a non-injury accident traveling to SCT in Lexington, KY. While nobody was hurt, this incident forced the D1 and D2 teams to combine, left the team without Riggle for the event, and forced the D1 team to forfeit their first 3 matches in the tournament. Despite these obstacles, WKU won 6 of 7 games they actually played to take 2nd place and qualify for D1 ICT]

Tournaments Hosted

WKU hosts several high school tournaments a year, with the centerpiece usually being the fall WKU Hilltopper Invitational. The team also hosts an annual JV tournament on SCOP Novice questions, in addition to several mirrors of collegiate tournaments over the last couple years. In 2013 WKU played host to the NAQT Kentucky State Championship.

Current Players

Nick Conder (2009-present)
Cole Phelps (2010-present)
Terence Donohue (2011-present)
Matthew Riggle (2012-present)
Ella Shipp (2013-present)
Mark Reeves (2013-present)
Aaron Whitehead (2013-present)

The WKU team also uses Gatton Academy students in college tournaments, due to the fact that the Gatton educational program consists of their students taking a full course load of WKU classes alongside regular college students. Some of these players play for WKU on a regular basis, while others prefer high school quizbowl and only appear from time to time.

Alex Malone (2013-present)
Will Walters (2013-present)
Austin Smith (2013-present)
Ben Guthrie (2013-present)
Nitin Krishna (2013-present)
Ajit Deshpande (2013-present)

Former Players

Brian Riddle, Founding Member (2009-12)
Shawna Felkins, Founding Member (2009-13)
Tommy Graven (2011-13)
Joey Wallace (2012-13)
Aaron Daley (2012)
Jarred Johnson (2012)
David Sams (2012)
Aaron Watkins (2013)
Kassie Tuck (2013)

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 The WKU team regularly attends tournaments hosted by ACF and NAQT, in addition to other circuit tournaments that use pyramidal quizbowl questions. The team started off quite poorly, posting a losing record in each of its first three seasons. The arrival of [[Matthew Riggle]] in the 2012-13 season allowed the team to have another scoring threat than Conder, which allowed them to post top bracket finishes at ACF Fall and SCT. With the addition of dual-enrolled high school player [[Alex Malone]], WKU managed a 10th place finish in Division II at the [[2013 ICT]].
-In the 2013-14 season, another influx of talent has led to even bigger accomplishments. They took the top two spots at [[Kentucky]]'s mirror of Collegiate Novice, finishing 3rd at WKU's mirror of the Michigan Fall Tournament, and finishing 6th at ACF Fall Southeast at Georgia Tech. In February 2014, a car driven by Riggle with 4 other WKU players in it was involved in a non-injury accident traveling to [[SCT]] in Lexington, KY. While nobody was hurt, this incident forced the D1 and D2 teams to combine, left the team without Riggle for the event, and forced the D1 team to forfeit their first 3 matches in the tournament. Despite these obstacles, WKU won 6 of 7 games they actually played to take 2nd place and qualify for D1 [ICT]
+In the 2013-14 season, another influx of talent has led to even bigger accomplishments. They took the top two spots at [[Kentucky]]'s mirror of Collegiate Novice, finishing 3rd at WKU's mirror of the Michigan Fall Tournament, and finishing 6th at ACF Fall Southeast at Georgia Tech. In February 2014, a car driven by Riggle with 4 other WKU players in it was involved in a non-injury accident traveling to [[SCT]] in Lexington, KY. While nobody was hurt, this incident forced the D1 and D2 teams to combine, left the team without Riggle for the event, and forced the D1 team to forfeit their first 3 matches in the tournament. Despite these obstacles, WKU won 6 of 7 games they actually played to take 2nd place and qualify for D1 [[ICT]]]
 ==Tournaments Hosted==