Auburn (Rockford, IL)

Auburn Knights
Location: Rockford, Illinois
Coaches	Nevagay Abel
State Championships	2008 Masonic tournament; 2008 IHSA, 2015 IHSA; 2008-2010, 2012, 2015-2016 NAQT
National Appearances	HSNCT: 2007-2010, 2012-2016 NSC: 2008-2016
Program Status	Active
School Size	1976
NAQT Page	link

Auburn High School is a public high school located on the west side of the city of Rockford, Illinois. In addition to being a public high school, it also is home to a gifted Academy which serves all of the Rockford public schools. It is this academy from which the quizbowl team controversially draws many of its top players.

The Knights currently compete as a member of the Northern Illinois Conference(NIC-10). It also competes in Class AA, the "large school" division, of the Illinois High School Association's (IHSA) State Championship Series. The current coach is Nevagay Abel. Linda Greene, who coached the team for over 20 years, still plays an active role.

History

There has been a team at Auburn at least since the early 90's. In the new millennium, Auburn's team has been one of the most consistently good teams in Illinois, finishing in the top four at IHSA State for eleven straight years (2002-2012). Highlights of Auburn include a state championship treble (IHSA, Masonic, and NAQT) in 2008; a double in 2015 (IHSA and NAQT), and NAQT state championships in 2009, 2010, and 2016; and 7th-place finishes at the 2009 HSNCT and 2011 NSC.

Noted Team Accomplishments

• IHSA Championship Tournament Champion: 2008, 2012, 2015, 2023
• IHSA Championship Tournament Runner-Up: 2003, 2009-11, 2016
• IHSA Championship Tournament Third Place: 2004-07, 2012
• IHSA Championship Tournament Fourth Place: 2002, 2013-14
• IHSA Regional Titles: 1998-2000, 2002-24
• IHSA Sectional Titles: 2002-24

IHSSBCA Individual Awards

The following were honored by the Illinois High School Scholastic Bowl Coaches Association (IHSSBCA) for outstanding play through their All-Sectional/All-State Program. Each sectional comprises roughly 24 geographically concentrated teams, and thus roughly 125 starting players. Through the 2006-07 season, the top ten players were recognized in each sectional, (starting with 2007-08, the number was raised to 15) with teams restricted to no more than two nominations (three nominations starting in 2007-08). There are twenty All-State awards given each year (10 First Team, 10 Second Team) in each of Illinois' two classes.

All-Sectional Honorees

• 2001-02: Nabeel Ahmed, Nick Mann
• 2002-03: Peter Brooks, Chad Casarotto
• 2003-04: Chad Casarotto, Tyler Kerr
• 2004-05: Tyler Kerr, Colleen "Danger" Powers
• 2005-06: Tyler Kerr, Colleen "Danger" Powers
• 2006-07: John Brown, Siva Sundaram
• 2007-08: John Brown, Michael Jiang, Siva Sundaram
• 2008-09: Zahed Haseeb, Michael Jiang, Siva Sundaram
• 2009-10: Jordan Hoffman, Lloyd Sy, Zahed Haseeb
• 2010-11: Abid Haseeb, Lloyd Sy, Saad Sheikh
• 2011-12: Abid Haseeb, Lloyd Sy
• 2012-13: Alex Pandya, Evan Pandya
• 2013-14: Evan Pandya, Cole Timmerwilke, Steven Vo

All-State Honorees

• 2001-02: Nick Mann (1st Team)
• 2002-03: Chad Casarotto (2nd Team)
• 2003-04: Chad Casarotto (1st Team)
• 2004-05: Tyler Kerr (1st Team), Colleen "Danger" Powers (2nd Team)
• 2005-06: Tyler Kerr (1st Team), Colleen "Danger" Powers (1st Team)
• 2006-07: Siva Sundaram (1st Team), John Brown (2nd Team)
• 2007-08: John Brown (1st Team) and Siva Sundaram (1st Team), Michael Jiang (2nd Team)
• 2008-09: Michael Jiang (1st Team), Siva Sundaram (1st Team)
• 2009-10: Lloyd Sy (1st Team), Zahed Haseeb (1st Team)
• 2010-11: Abid Haseeb and Lloyd Sy (1st team), Saad Sheikh (2nd team)
• 2011-12: Abid Haseeb and Lloyd Sy (1st team)
• 2012-13: Alex Pandya (1st team), Evan Pandya (2nd team)
• 2013-15: Evan Pandya and Cole Timmerwilke (1st team)
• 2015-16: Cole Timmerwilke (1st team), Henry Roe (2nd Team), Ethan Strombeck (2nd Team)

Playing for Team Illinois

• Tyler Kerr (2005, 2006)
• John Brown (2008)
• Siva Sundaram (2008)
• Lloyd Sy (2010, 2011, 2012)
• Alex Pandya (2013)
• Evan Pandya (2014, 2015)
• Cole Timmerwilke (2014, 2015, 2016)

IHSA Class 2A State Champion
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
IMSA	2023	Buffalo Grove

External links

• Official website
• Wikipedia entry
• NAQT page

NAQT Illinois State Champions Champions (2005-pres) Stevenson (2005) · Stevenson (2006) · New Trier (2007) · Auburn (2008) · Auburn (2009) · Auburn (2010) · Stevenson (2011) · Auburn (2012) · IMSA (2013) · IMSA A (2014) · Auburn (2015) · Auburn (2016) · Stevenson A (2017) · UIUC Lab (2018) · Auburn (2019) · UIUC Lab (2020) · Buffalo Grove (2022) Small School Champions (2013-pres) Peoria Christian (2013) · Litchfield (2014) · Macomb A (2015) · Macomb A (2016) · Southwestern A (2017) · UIUC Lab (2018) · UIUC Lab (2019) · UIUC Lab (2020) · UIUC Lab (2022)

IHSA State Championship 1987-91 Quincy (1987) · Quincy (1988) · IMSA (1989) · IMSA (1990) · Centralia (1991) Class AA (1992-present) Hinsdale Central (1992) · Quincy (1993) · IMSA (1994) · Richwoods (1995) · IMSA (1996) · IMSA (1997) · IMSA (1998) · IMSA (1999) · Stevenson (2000) · IMSA (2001) · Wheaton North (2002) · Wheaton North (2003) · Wheaton North (2004) · Stevenson (2005) · Fremd (2006) · New Trier (2007) · Auburn (2008) · Carbondale (2009) · IMSA (2010) · IMSA (2011) · IMSA (2012) · IMSA (2013) · IMSA (2014) · Auburn (2015) · Hinsdale Central (2016) · IMSA (2017) · Stevenson (2018) · University Lab (2019) Class A (1992-present) Rockridge (1992) · Winnebago (1993) · Latin (1994) · Winnebago (1995) · Niantic-Harristown (1996) · St. Teresa (1997) · Latin (1998) · University (Normal) (1999) · Byron (2000) · Warrensburg-Latham (2001) · Latin (2002) · Stillman Valley (2003) · Latin (2004) · Latin (2005) · Latin (2006) · Decatur Lutheran (2007) · PORTA (2008) · Latin (2009) · Lisle (2010) · Lisle (2011) · Peoria Christian (2012) · Peoria Christian (2013) · Litchfield (2014) · University Lab (2015) · Latin (2016) · Timothy Christian (2017) · Williamsville (2018) · Chicago Christian (2019)

Masonic tournament Champion
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
Maine South	2008	Carbondale