Missouri Fall Academic Tournament

The Missouri Fall Academic Tournament is a fall season-kickoff event for high school teams hosted by the Missouri Quizbowl Club.

The first annual Missouri Fall Academic Tournament (abbreviated MFAT) was held in 2008. It featured teams from all over the state of Missouri. In 2009, an equally diverse field of teams vied for a title. Full statistics for all Missouri-hosted tournaments can be found at [1].

2008 MFAT

• Question provider: NAQT (IS-80A)
• Number of teams: 18
• Directors: Alex Dzurick, Charles Dees
• Date: November 1, 2008

Field

• Clayton
• DeSmet A & B
• Glasgow
• Hannibal
• Helias
• Hickman
• Kickapoo A & B
• Knob Noster
• Liberty
• Monroe City
• North Kansas City
• Pilot Grove
• Richland
• Rock Bridge A & B
• Weaubleau

Summary

Teams played a full bracketed round-robin in brackets of six teams each during the morning rounds. Coming out of the morning, Liberty, NKC, and Rock Bridge A were undefeated. Clayton, Helias, and Hickman were the 2nd seed teams. These six teams were seeded into the top bracket for the afternoon round. The remaining twelve teams divided into half based on preliminary round records. Within these brackets, the teams played another full round-robin. NKC cleared the field with a spotless 10-0 record and were declared the inaugural MFAT champions. Crosstown Columbia rivals Hickman and Rock Bridge A were tied with 8-2 full-day records, but Hickman had a higher PPG and was declared the second place team. In the small-school final, Glasgow defeated Richland 175-150 to win the small-school title. All four of these teams received plaques (from local Columbia engraver and Missouri Quizbowl Club favorite U-Win Trophy). The top three teams as well as small-school champion Glasgow all qualified teams for the 2009 NAQT HSNCT, while NKC and Hickman also qualified for the 2009 PACE NSC. Overall, the tournament's top scorer was NKC's Brandon Roney, who earned 112 PPG during the preliminary rounds. In an additional boon for the Missouri team, the Columbia Missourian chose to do an article about this tournament and thus the team was able to gain some publicity.

2009 MFAT

• Question provider: NAQT (IS set)
• Number of teams: 16
• Directors: Alex Dzurick, Charles Dees
• Date: October 10, 2009 [Incidentally, the first allowable date of quizbowl competition for MSHSAA-affilated schools.]

Field

• Hannibal
• Hickman A & B
• Ladue A & B
• Liberty
• North Kansas City
• North Shelby
• Pilot Grove
• Rock Bridge A, B & C
• Salem A
• Salem B
• Villa Duchesne A & B

Summary

This tournament was played on an NAQT IS set. These sixteen teams played a round-robin in brackets of eight during the preliminary rounds. Hickman A and Ladue A remained undefeated. Having played a modified carry-over style afternoon, Ladue A was undefeated at 11-0. North Kansas City followed closely behind at 10-1. Thus, an advantaged final was played, which Ladue won 285-235 to capture the title and a first place plaque. NKC earned a second place plaque, and at 9-2, Hickman A scored the third place plaque. Salem A defeated Pliot Grove to capture the small-school title. Plaques were again engraved by U-Win Trophy. All plaque winners received bids to the 2010 NAQT HSNCT, and Ladue and NKC also received bids to PACE NSC. Grant Gates of North Kansas City captured the high-scorer title, with 113.57 PPG during the prelims. In another note on media coverage, the club was approached by a representative for the local Mediacom cable channel to record matches and broadcast a condensed version of the 2009 MFAT on local television. This was completely approved and will hopefully again further publicize quizbowl.