2002 IHSA State Championship Tournament

The 2002 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Championship Tournaments ended the sixteenth State Championship Series conducted in Scholastic Bowl by the IHSA. It was the eleventh season in which there were separate State Championship Tournaments held for small schools (Class A) and large schools (Class AA). For the sixth year, both tournaments were held at the Peoria Civic Center on Saturday, March 16th.

This would be the first tournament to not have a "host" school. Woodruff's John Rathbun, continued serving on as Tournament Manager. Equipment was furnished by Buzzersystems.com.

Advancement

Teams were assigned to one of eight sectionals within each class. Teams were seeded by the coaches, and teams would be assigned to one of four Regionals within each Sectional. Within each Sectional, the winners and runners-up of each single elimination tournament would advance to the single elimination Sectional. The determination of the geographic boundaries of the Sectional was arbitrarily decided by the IHSA Office.

In the State Championship Tournament, teams would be randomly assigned to pools of four, and play a three match round robin. The winners of each pool would advance to the Championship Match, and the runners-up in each pool would advance to play for third place. Ties were broken by head-to-head results or total points scored (in the event of a three way tie)

Tournament Format

Each round was comprised of 30 toss-ups and accompanying bonus questions.

The top four teams earned trophies and medals for team members, coaches, principals, and activities directors. The trophies were of the design smaller than that of the athletic trophies given out by the IHSA.

Questions

For the second year, the questions were written by a group of retired coaches and person from other states. Tom Egan served his second year as chief editor.

CLASS A

2002 Class A IHSA State Championship Tournament

State Champion: The Latin School

Runner-Up: Carterville High School

Third Place University High School (Normal)

Fourth Place Pleasant Plains High School

POOL #1

The Latin School swept through their pool with a 3-0 record. University High School finished 2-1 and advanced to play for third place.

Round	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Score
1	Latin School	166	Stillman Valley	157
	University	228	Unity	78
2	Latin School	255	Unity	105
	University	210	Stillman Valley	163
3	Latin School	273	University	154
	Stillman Valley	275	Unity	120

POOL #2

Carterville advanced with a 3-0 record in the pool. Pleasant Plains, Fairfield, & Cuba were all tied with 1-2 records. Pleasant Plains advanced on total points (378, 322, 334).

Round	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Score
1	Pleasant Plains	160	Fairfield	140
	Carterville	141	Cuba	97
2	Fairfield	103	Cuba	94
	Carterville	152	Pleasant Plains	101
3	Carterville	166	Fairfield	79
	Cuba	143	Pleasant Plains	117

Third Place

Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Score
University	186	Pleasant Plains	106

Finals

Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Score
Latin School	267	Carterville	76

CLASS AA

2002 Class AA IHSA State Championship Tournament

State Champion: Wheaton North High School

Runner-Up: Hinsdale Central High School

Third Place New Trier High School

Fourth Place Auburn High School

POOL #1

Homewood-Flossmoor, New Trier, and Wheaton North were all tied with 2-1 records. Wheaton North and New Trier advanced to the championship and third place match, respectively, based on total points (585, 744, 802)

Round	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Score
1	Homewood-Flossmoor	185	Wheaton North	179
	New Trier	209	Libertyville	207
2	Wheaton North	291	New Trier	206
	Homewood-Flossmoor	261	Libertyville	207
3	Wheaton North	332	Libertyville	147
	New Trier	329	Homewood-Flossmoor	139

POOL #2

Hinsdale Central advanced with a 3-0 record in the pool. Auburn advanced with the second best record in the pool (2-1).

Round	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Score
1	Southeast Springfield	136	Granite City	132
	Hinsdale Central	213	Auburn	137
2	Auburn	241	Granite City	130
	Hinsdale Central	253	Southeast Springfield	151
3	Hinsdale Central	243	Granite City	138
	Auburn	217	Southeast Springfield	103

Third Place

Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Score
New Trier	267	Auburn	150

Finals

Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Score
Wheaton North	273	Hinsdale Central	160

Notes

• Eleven years after their first trip, and in their eighth appearance, Wheaton North and their long time coach, Susan Martin finally won their first IHSA State Championship. It would be the first of three in a row, and was the second of five consecutive trips to the State Championship Match.
• The Latin School's third state title brought them into the elite company with IMSA and Quincy as the only three-time state champions. Latin also broke the tie it had been in with Winnebago as the only two-time champions in Class A.
• Class AA's Pool #1 was thrown into chaos after one round. With Wheaton North the odds on favorite to win, they were upset by a Homewood-Flossmoor Team starring Parag Bhayani. This easily ranks among the bigger upsets in Tournament history. Entering the final round, the only thing that would save their chance of getting to the finals was a huge win over Libertyville (which they got), and a New Trier win that held down Homewood-Flossmoor's scoring (which New Trier did). In appreciation, the entire Wheaton North team stood and applauded New Trier when they went up to receive their third place awards.
• This was the first appearance by Auburn. Not only have they not missed the Tournament since; they have not failed to place in the top four.

IHSA State Championship Tournaments 1987 · 1988 · 1989 · 1990 · 1991 · 1992 · 1993 · 1994 · 1995 · 1996 · 1997 · 1998 · 1999 · 2000 · 2001 · 2002 · 2003 · 2004 · 2005 · 2006 · 2007 · 2008 · 2009 · 2010 · 2011 · 2012 · 2013 · 2014 · 2015 · 2016 · 2017 · 2018 · 2019 · 2020 (cancelled) · 2021 (cancelled) · 2022 · 2023 · 2024 Records Tournament Records Associated Individuals Sister John Baricevic (former question editor; current or former official) · Tom Egan (former question editor; former official)  · Brad Fischer (question editor)  · Rob Grierson (head of officials)  · Ron McGraw (former IHSA admin)  · Matt Laird (former official)  · Mike Laudermith (official)  · David Reinstein (former official)  · Mike Sorice (official)