Missouri Quizbowl Alliance

The Missouri Quizbowl Alliance (MOQBA) is an organization that promotes the proliferation of good quizbowl in the state of Missouri through hosting tournaments, certifying other tournaments and performing outreach activities. In addition, MOQBA sponsors the Missouri NASAT team and awards a Student Involvement award.

Current Members

• Jeffrey Hill, President & Webmaster
• Alex Dzurick, Secretary
• Scott Allen
• Jacob Billingsley
• Matt Chadbourne
• Brandon Daake
• David Dennis
• Spencer Fish
• Phil George
• Sam Haynes
• Kyle Hill
• Stephanie Hull
• Ryan Kennedy
• Jason Loy
• Paul Nelson
• Jacob O'Rourke
• Sean Phillips
• Sam Ruesing
• Nick Rupel
• Abdullah Shoaib
• Alex Smith
• Joey Spicer
• Kevin Stockman
• Shelley Swoyer
• Christina Whelehon

Formation (2008-2009)

MOQBA was founded in September 2008 to unify the efforts of good quizbowl advocates in and near Missouri to improve Missouri quizbowl. The organization was publicly announced on October 31, 2008. The name and idea were modeled after similar efforts in other states such as Minnesota, Oklahoma and Texas.

The founding members - Jeffrey Hill, Alex Dzurick, Matt Chadbourne, Charles Dees and Paul Nelson - formed the group in recognition of the fact that high school quizbowl in Missouri has not kept up with the national trend; questions are still mostly one-liners and generally written poorly. Additionally, restrictions imposed by MSHSAA significantly limit teams from becoming part of the national circuit. MOQBA's objective thus became to finally advance the status of quizbowl in Missouri. In its first year, MOQBA focused on increasing awareness of good quizbowl formats and promoting tournaments that adhered to the principles of good quizbowl.

MOQBA certified six tournaments in the 2008-2009 season: the Missouri Fall Academic Tournament, Missouri S&T Fall Tournament, Tiger Bowl, WUHSAC XI, the NAQT Missouri Qualifier, and the Missouri S&T Spring Tournament.

8 Missouri teams attended the 2009 HSNCT. Francis Howell Central was the only Missouri team to advance to the playoffs, finishing tied for 27th overall.

2009-2010

• New tournaments: Liberty Scholar Bowl Invitational, Missouri State Fall, Spirit of St. Louis Warmup (at Parkway Central), Mort Walker Invitational, Villa Duchesne Invitational, Missouri State Bear Bowl, MOQBA Pre-Nationals
• Recurring tournaments: Missouri Fall, Tiger Bowl II, Missouri S&T Fall, WUHSAC XII, Missouri S&T Spring, NAQT Missouri Qualifier

In the 2009-2010 season, the number of MOQBA certified events more than doubled. Additionally, MOQBA helped to organize a mirror of the 2009 Fall Novice set at North Kansas City. The 2010 NAQT Missouri Qualifier was the first tournament formally hosted by MOQBA as an organization, on March 20 at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

MOQBA hosted the MOQBA Pre-Nationals Tournament a week before HSNCT; unfortunately, due to the organization's understanding of a new MSHSAA rule at the time the tournament was planned and announced, participation by Missouri teams was limited to those that had qualified for a national tournament during the regular season. It was discovered in the weeks before the tournament that the applicable rule (Section 4-C of the 2009-2010 Academic Competition Manual) appears to allow any team to participate in a single non-MSHSAA-hosted tournament between Districts and Memorial Day weekend [1], so future iterations of the tournament do not have this restriction.

MOQBA sponsored Missouri's team at the 2010 NASAT at Vanderbilt, which consisted of Sabrina Fritz, Grant Gates, Ikshu Neithalath, and Nick Rupel, and was coached by Paul Nelson. The team finished 12th of 16 teams with a record of 5-11.

Throughout this season, MOQBA emphasized increased Missouri participation at HSNCT and NSC through its website, a national bids thread on the Missouri Academic Competition Message Board recognizing teams that qualified for these tournaments, and increased exposure at MOQBA certified events. Thirteen Missouri teams attended the 2010 HSNCT, while Holden attended the NSC. Unfortunately, none advanced to the playoffs at these tournaments.

2010-2011

• New tournaments: St. Louis University Academic Competition, Rock Bridge Fall Novice, Bill Currie Memorial Tournament, St. Charles CC Fall Novice, North Kansas City Varsity Invitational, Savannah Invitational, Oakville Spring, Ladue Invitational Spring Tournament
• Recurring tournaments: Missouri Fall, Missouri State Fall, Tiger Bowl III, Missouri S&T Fall, WUHSAC XIII, Mort Walker Invitational, Villa Duchesne Invitational, NAQT Missouri Qualifier, Missouri S&T Spring, MOQBA Pre-Nationals

There were eighteen MOQBA certified tournaments on the 2010-11 calendar, of which ten were certified the previous season. MOQBA hosted the 2011 NAQT Missouri Qualifier on March 5 at Missouri-Columbia. At the qualifier, MOQBA presented its first ever MOQBA Award for Outstanding Student Involvement, an as-needed award that recognizes extraordinary contributions by students. The inaugural award was presented to Sam Haynes (see below).

In May 2011, MOQBA received the Benjamin Cooper Young Ambassador Award from PACE "in recognition of their work both in tournament direction and personal advising to younger, newer players leading to the recent incredible improvement of the independent circuit in Missouri."

8 Missouri teams attended the 2011 HSNCT in Atlanta and 8 attended the NSC in Chicago. Ladue tied for 13th at HSNCT, with North Kansas City and Savannah also advancing to the playoffs.

MOQBA sponsored the NASAT team at the 2011 tournament in Maryland, consisting of Craig Chval, Sabrina Fritz, Ikshu Neithalath and Ben Zhang. MOQBA member Jason Loy served as coach.

2011-2012

• New tournaments: Tuscumbia Fall, Oakville Novice, Ladue Novice, North Kansas City JV, Clayton Invitational, Kewpie Academic Tournament, SLUH JV, Waynesville, Rock Bridge Winter Invitational Tournament, Kirksville Invitational, Helias Catholic Tournament, Truman Bowl, North Kansas City End of the Season, Parkway West Spring Academic Tournament, Spring Panther Academic Tournament, Tuscumbia Spring
• Recurring tournaments: MFAT, Rock Bridge Novice, Bill Currie II, Tiger Bowl IV, Missouri S&T Fall, North Kansas City Varsity, WUHSAC XIV, Mort Walker Invitational, Villa Duchesne Invitational, NAQT Missouri Qualifier, Savannah Invitational, Missouri S&T Spring, LIST II, MOQBA Pre-Nationals

This was the busiest season yet for MOQBA, as thirty tournaments were certified on the MOQBA calendar across the state. Sixteen new events debuted alongside fourteen existing events. The 2012 NAQT Missouri Qualifier was held on March 3 at Missouri, where the second Student Involvement award was presented to Max Schindler.

13 Missouri teams attended the 2012 HSNCT in Atlanta and 14 attended the NSC at Washington University in St. Louis. Ladue finished tied for fifth at HSNCT and eleventh at NSC, and Helias and Savannah also advanced to the HSNCT playoffs.

Jason Loy again coached the state's NASAT team, consisting of Jialin Ding, Alex Meneses, Max Schindler and Ben Zhang. The team competed at the 2012 NASAT at Ohio State, where they took 6th place.

2012-2013

• New tournaments: Dave Renn Memorial (El Dorado Springs), MOQBA Fall Regionals, MOQBA Winter Invitational, Kickapoo, Hallsville Invitational
• Recurring tournaments: Tuscumbia Fall, Oakville Novice, Missouri Fall, North Kansas City JV, Tiger Bowl V, Missouri S&T Fall, NKC Varsity, Rock Bridge WIT, Mort Walker, WUHSAC XV, Helias, NAQT Missouri Qualifier, LIST III, Parkway West Spring, Pre-Nationals

MOQBA introduced two new series of competitions this year: a Fall Regionals series held on the MSU/UD set, and a Winter Invitational series on a NAQT A-set. Both sets of tournaments featured four sites scattered across the state and were hosted by local schools rather than by MOQBA.

11 Missouri teams attended the 2013 HSNCT in Atlanta, and 4 teams attended NSC in Maryland. Ladue High School brought home a national championship from the 2013 PACE NSC, where they defeated LASA (of Texas). Ladue also came in 2nd place to LASA at the NAQT HSNCT. Ladue B finished tied for 21st at HSNCT, and Hallsville B also advanced to the HSNCT playoffs.

Team Missouri, coached by Jason Loy, also won a national championship at the 2013 NASAT. The team consisted of Max Schindler, Ben Zhang, Jialin Ding, and Haohang Xu, all of Ladue. Their win came over Team Texas.

2013-2014

• New tournaments: Truman Bowl V, Kickapoo, Three Trails Tournament at Fort Osage, Centralia Autumn, William Chrisman JV, Hallsville Fall, JV State
• Recurring tournaments: Tuscumbia Fall, Missouri Fall, North Kansas City JV, Rock Bridge WIT, MOQBA Winter Invitationals (3 sites), Tiger Bowl VI, NKC Varsity, Hallsville Invitational II (canceled due to weather), WUHSAC XV, Helias, NAQT Missouri Qualifier, LIST IV
• Returning tournaments not scheduled the previous season: Ladue Fall Novice, Oakville Varsity

Hallsville won the inaugural NAQT Small School National Championship Tournament, the third consecutive pyramidal high school national tournament won by a Missouri team. Mound City and Pilot Grove also attended SSNCT and advanced to the playoffs. Ladue finished fourth at the 2014 PACE NSC and NAQT HSNCT. 10 other Missouri teams also attended HSNCT, where a state record 5 Missouri teams advanced to the playoffs: Hallsville finished tied for 21st, and Savannah, North Kansas City, and Hickman lost their first playoff games.

Team Missouri, coached by Jason Loy, finished eighth out of seventeen teams at NASAT. The team consisted of seniors Jialin Ding, Kisan Thakkar, and Ben Zhang of Ladue, and junior Jared Lockwood of Hallsville.

2014-2015

High School

• New tournaments: Tuscumbia Winter HS (December), MARS at Fort Osage, Washington, Outstate Missouri Academic Rendezvous
• Recurring tournaments: Hallsville Fall, Missouri Fall, NKC JV (cancelled due to lack of field), Centralia Autumn, Three Trails, Orchard Farm Winter Invitational, Waynesville, NKC Varsity, Tuscumbia SCOP Novice (as "Tuscumbia Winter" in January), Tiger Bowl, Hallsville Invitational, WUHSAC, Helias, NAQT Missouri Qualifier, JV State, Oakville Varsity, LIST
• Returning tournaments not scheduled the previous season: Oakville Novice, Jefferson City, Pre-Nationals

The "MOQBA Winter Invitationals" name was retired, but Orchard Farm and Waynesville once again hosted tournaments on an A-Set (141A) on the same weekend. Orchard Farm's tournament used the same eligibility restrictions as the previous Winter Invitationals.

Hallsville finished second at the 2015 SSNCT, losing only two games to tournament champion Harmony Science North Austin. Richland also attended SSNCT, finishing the preliminary rounds undefeated but ultimately finishing 11th in the school's first ever nationals appearance.

With the entire 2014 team returning, Hallsville shockingly only went 5-5 at HSNCT, losing 4 games by 60 or fewer points. Of 11 Missouri teams, Hickman was the only Missouri representative in the playoffs, finishing tied for 53rd. William Gentry from St. Joseph Central was named the top freshman rising star, finishing 41st individually.

Four Missouri teams attended NSC and all finished in the bottom third of the field.

Team Missouri, coached by Jason Loy, finished tenth out of twelve teams at NASAT. The team consisted of seniors Jared Lockwood of Hallsville and Evan Heronemus of Savannah, and juniors Alex Harmata of Hickman and Parth Parikh of Hannibal.

Middle School

This was the first season that MOQBA officially certified middle school tournaments. Four certified tournaments were held: Tuscumbia Fall Tournament, Tuscumbia Winter Tournament, Washington Middle School Tournament, and Camdenton Laker Bowl, each with 18 teams.

Tuscumbia and two teams from Washington attended the 2015 MSNCT. Washington A advanced to the playoffs for the third consecutive year, finishing 40th of 128 teams.

MOQBA Award for Outstanding Student Involvement

The Missouri Quizbowl Alliance established the MOQBA Award for Outstanding Student Involvement to recognize contributions made by students to improve quizbowl in the state of Missouri. The award is presented on an as-needed basis at the NAQT Missouri Qualifier. [2]

Honorees

• 2015: Jared Lockwood of Hallsville High School for his numerous commitments to coaching, mentoring and writing for younger quizbowl players.
• 2014: Ben Zhang and Jialin Ding of Ladue Horton Watkins High School for hosting the 2013 Ladue Fall Novice Tournament and for producing and editing the nationally lauded Ladue Invitational Spring Tournament IV question set.
• 2012: Max Schindler of Ladue Horton Watkins High School for establishing, directing and editing the set for the Ladue Invitational Spring Tournament.
• 2011: Sam Haynes of Jefferson City High School for establishing and directing the Bill Currie Memorial Tournament.

Former Members

• Charles Dees (founding member; 2008-2013)
• Charles Hang (2009-2010)
• Chris Zhang (2011-2014)

Website

Missouri Quizbowl Alliance