ACF Nationals

ACF Nationals is an annual event held by ACF. Along with the NAQT ICT, ACF Nationals is one of the two tournaments which determine a national champion each year in collegiate quizbowl.

More information on editors and circumstances of ACF Nationals can be found at the ACF page. ACF Nationals was first held in 1991, though it is the successor to prior events such as the National Invitation Tournament and All-American Invitational which date back to 1979. Considering the three events as one chain of "ACF-style" national championships, ACF Nationals is the oldest national title, at 36 years as of the 2015 tournament, and the longest-running, having surpassed the College Bowl NCT's 28 instances. Counting ACF Nationals alone, the event had its 25th instance in 2016 (as no championship was held in 1992).

Beginning in 2008, ACF Nationals crowned Undergraduate and Division II champions in addition to overall champions. Unlike at NAQT ICT, the Division II title is awarded to the highest-finishing Division II team in the overall field, rather than being played in a separate tournament. Unofficial winners by the current criteria are noted for pre-2008 tournaments, when known.

For most of its existence, ACF Nationals was smaller than ICT, and was open to any collegiate team, provided that most of those teams submitted a packet (unlike ICT, which had a strict system of invitations and was written entirely by NAQT personnel). In 2015, in part due to exploding interest in nationals attendance, ACF instituted the A-Value, a measure which generated a list of Nationals invitees based on teams' performance at the preceding ACF Regionals. As of now, the Nationals field is capped, and teams are invited by having a large enough A-value for the year, or by being issued autobids for hosting or editing Regionals.

ACF Nationals Master Info Table

Year Overall National Champion Undergraduate Champion Division II Champion Host City 1991 Tennessee N/A N/A Knoxville, TN 1993 Chicago N/A N/A College Park, MD 1994 Chicago Maryland N/A College Park, MD 1995 Harvard Georgia Tech N/A Knoxville, TN 1996 Georgia Tech Maryland N/A Knoxville, TN 1997 Virginia Virginia Carleton College Urbana, IL 1998 Virginia South Carolina Harvard College Park, MD 1999 Chicago Texas Arkansas Chicago, IL 2000 Chicago Princeton Princeton College Park, MD 2001 Michigan Berry Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 2002 Michigan Princeton Texas A&M College Park, MD 2003 Berkeley Harvard Princeton Atlanta, GA 2004 Chicago Harvard Harvard College Park, MD 2005 Michigan Harvard Chicago Evanston, IL 2006 Texas A&M Chicago None Ann Arbor, MI 2007 Chicago Carleton College Illinois Nashville, TN 2008 Chicago Minnesota Minnesota Waltham, MA 2009 Chicago Minnesota Stow Munroe Falls St Louis, MO 2010 Stanford Minnesota State College College Park, MD 2011 Yale Michigan State College Pittsburgh, PA 2012 Yale Illinois Haverford College Park, MD 2013 Illinois Chicago Illinois New York, NY 2014 Virginia Yale North Carolina New York, NY 2015 Penn A Stanford B Northwestern Ann Arbor, MI 2016 Michigan A Maryland A Oklahoma Ann Arbor, MI 2017 Maryland Berkeley A MIT B New York, NY 2018 Chicago Berkeley A Harvard B Cambridge, MA Expanded Top Finishers Table Year Champion Second Place Third Place Fourth Place Top Individual Scorer Other All-Stars Stats 1991 Tennessee Georgia Tech Maryland NC State 1993 Chicago Maryland Harvard Harvard B 1994 Chicago Maryland Brigham Young Maryland B Bill Crew Central Florida John Saluda (North Carolina) • Josh Boorstin (Chicago) • John Harris (Virginia) Stats 1995 Harvard Georgia Tech Berkeley South Carolina Tom Waters South Carolina Jeff Johnson (Harvard) • John Sheahan (Chicago) • Marc Swisdak (Colorado) • Eric Tentarelli (Cornell) Christine Moritz (Emory) • Mike Mahurin (Midwestern State) • Tim Pulju (Rice) Stats 1996 Georgia Tech Maryland Virginia Illinois Andrew Yaphe Virginia Jeff Johnson (Harvard) • R. Hentzel (Iowa State) • Jason King (Georgia Tech) • Eric Tentarelli (Cornell) Robert Trent (Iowa) • Christine Moritz (Emory) • Mike Musgrove (Georgia Tech) Stats 1997 Virginia Chicago Maryland Georgia Tech John Sheahan Chicago Mike Starsinic (Ohio State) • Andrew Yaphe (Virginia) • James Anderson (Illinois) • Jason King (Georgia Tech) Peter McCorquodale (MIT) • R. Hentzel (Iowa State) • Dave Hamilton (Maryland) Stats 1998 Virginia Harvard Maryland Oklahoma Andrew Yaphe Virginia Jeff Johnson (Harvard) • Eric Bell (Oklahoma) • Long Nguyen (Georgia Tech) • Jeff Stewart (Princeton) T.C. Ford (South Carolina) • Ravin Garg (Michigan) • Gautam Mukunda (Harvard) Stats 1999 Chicago Maryland Illinois Berkeley Andrew Yaphe Chicago Robert Trent (Iowa) • Mike Wehrman (Arkansas) • Subash Maddipoti (Quincy) • Dave Hamilton (Maryland) Dave Goodman (Michigan) • Jason Hong (Berkeley) • Seth Kendall (Kentucky) Stats 2000 Chicago Illinois Harvard Virginia Andrew Yaphe Chicago John Kenney (Virginia) • Jeff Hoppes (Princeton) • Raj Bhan (WUSTL) • Joon Pahk (Harvard) Mike Wehrman (Arkansas) • Patrick Friel (UCLA) • Shaun Hayeslip (Maryland) Stats† 2001 Michigan Virginia Michigan B Kentucky John Kenney Virginia Kelly McKenzie (Kentucky) • Steve Watchorn (Wisconsin) • Ezequiel Berdichevsky (Michigan) • Eric Smith (Texas) Chris Vichich (Illinois) • Robert Trent (Vanderbilt) • Ed Cohn (Chicago) Stats 2002 Michigan Kentucky Princeton Virginia John Kenney Virginia Matt Weiner (Pitt) • Raj Dhuwalia (Florida Atlantic) • Kelly McKenzie (Kentucky) • Vik Vaz (Harvard) David Hayes (Rutgers) • Nathan Freeburg (Florida State) • Jeff Hoppes (Princeton) Stats 2003 Berkeley Michigan Kentucky Texas A&M Wesley Matthews Indiana Kelly McKenzie (Kentucky) • Raj Dhuwalia (Florida) • Robert Trent (Vanderbilt) • Vernon Davenport (South Carolina) Nathan Freeburg (Florida State) • Seth Teitler (Berkeley) • Vik Vaz (Harvard) Stats 2004 Chicago Berkeley Texas A&M Kentucky Wesley Matthews Indiana Kelly McKenzie (Kentucky) • Adam Kemezis (Michigan) • Matt Cvijanovich (Iowa State) • Chris Frankel (Princeton) Jason Keller (Rutgers) • Andrew Yaphe (Chicago) • Nathan Freeburg (CUNY) Stats 2005 Michigan Chicago Berkeley Princeton Matt Weiner VCU Subash Maddipoti (Chicago) • Seth Kendall (Kentucky) • Fred Bush (Rochester) • Jason Keller (Rutgers) Chris Frankel (Princeton) • Ryan Westbrook (Michigan) • Jerry Vinokurov (Berkeley) Stats† 2006 Texas A&M Michigan Chicago Illinois Matt Lafer Matt Lafer Matt Weiner (VCU) • Chris Frankel (Princeton) • Jerry Vinokurov (Brown) • Jason Keller (Rutgers) Paul Litvak (Carnegie Mellon) • Leo Wolpert (Virginia) • Chris Romero (Texas A&M) Stats† 2007 Chicago Brown Texas A&M VCU Matt Weiner VCU Seth Kendall (Kentucky) • Ryan Westbrook (Wayne State) • Mike Sorice (Illinois) • Jerry Vinokurov (Brown) Seth Teitler (Chicago) • Patrick Hope (Carleton College) • Will Turner (Michigan) Stats† 2008 Chicago Brown Maryland Illinois Mike Sorice Illinois Matt Keller (Vanderbilt) • Jerry Vinokurov (Brown) • Jonathan Magin (Maryland) • Ray Luo (UCLA) Seth Teitler (Chicago) • Jason Keller (Rutgers) • Billy Beyer (Florida State) Stats 2009 Chicago Brown Stanford Minnesota Andrew Yaphe Stanford Jerry Vinokurov (Brown) • Chris Ray (Maryland) • Ike Jose (Stow Munroe Falls) • Mike Sorice (Illinois) Auroni Gupta (UCSD) • Evan Adams (VCU) • Charlie Dees (Missouri) Stats 2010 Stanford Minnesota Chicago Maryland Andrew Yaphe Stanford Eric Mukherjee (Penn) • Seth Teitler (Chicago) • Brendan Byrne (Minnesota) • Dallas Simons (Harvard) Auroni Gupta (UCSD) • Chris Ray (Maryland A) • Mike Sorice (Illinois) Stats 2011 Yale Minnesota Illinois Chicago Matt Bollinger Virginia Auroni Gupta (UCSD) • Chris Ray (Maryland A) • Mike Sorice (Illinois) • Henry Gorman (Rice) Robert Harden (South Carolina) • Evan Adams (VCU) • Trevor Davis (Carnegie Mellon) Stats 2012 Yale Virginia Michigan Penn Ike Jose Illinois Matt Bollinger (Virginia) • Eric Mukherjee (Penn) • Chris Ray (Maryland) • Henry Gorman (Rice) Matt Jackson (Yale) • Andrew Hart (Minnesota) • Sean Smiley (VCU) Stats 2013 Illinois Yale Michigan Penn John Lawrence London Andrew Hart (Minnesota) • Matt Bollinger (Virginia) • Ike Jose (Illinois) • Matt Jackson (Yale) Eric Mukherjee (Penn) • Henry Gorman (Rice) • Chris Ray (Maryland) Stats 2014 Virginia Yale Penn Chicago Matt Bollinger Virginia Eric Mukherjee (Penn) • Will Nediger (Michigan) • Richard Yu (WUSTL) • Matt Jackson (Yale) John Lawrence (Chicago) • Aaron Rosenberg (Illinois) • Stephen Liu (Harvard) Stats 2015 Penn Chicago Maryland Stanford Virginia Auroni Gupta UCSD Dylan Minarik (Northwestern) • Matthew Bollinger (Virginia) • Will Nediger (Michigan) • Neil Gurram (MIT) • Eric Mukherjee (Penn) • Andrew Wang (Illinois) • Jordan Brownstein (Maryland) Stats 2016 Michigan A Chicago A Stanford A Maryland A Yale A Jordan Brownstein Maryland Kurtis Droge (Louisville), Neil Gurram (MIT), Will Alston (Dartmouth), Kenji Golimlim (Michigan B, solo, Andrew Wang (Illinois), Jason Golfinos (Princeton, solo) Caleb Kendrick (Oklahoma) Stats 2017 Maryland Michigan Yale A Columbia Jordan Brownstein Maryland Eric Mukherjee (Penn), Jacob Reed (Yale), John Lawrence (Chicago), Jason Golfinos (Princeton), Rafael Krichevsky (Columbia), Stephen Liu (Stanford), Jasper Lee (Tennessee) Stats 2018 Chicago A Penn A Yale Columbia Itamar Naveh-Benjamin Missouri Jacob Reed (Yale), Rafael Krichevsky (Columbia), Caleb Kendrick (Oklahoma), Aseem Keyal (Berkeley), Kenji Shimizu (Michigan), Chris Ray (Ohio State), Charles Hang (WUSTL) Stats Champions whose names are in bold were undefeated. † Broken stats link Medal count Team Championships Finals Appearances (Top 2) Trophies (Top 3) Leaderboards (Top 4) Berkeley 1 2 4 5 Brigham Young 0 0 1 1 Brown 0 3 3 3 Chicago 9 13 15 17 Columbia 0 0 0 2 Georgia Tech 1 3 3 4 Harvard 1 2 4 5 Illinois 1 2 4 7 Kentucky 0 1 2 4 Maryland 1 5 10 13 Michigan 4 7 10 10 Minnesota 0 2 2 3 NC State 0 0 0 1 Oklahoma 0 0 0 1 Penn 1 2 3 5 Princeton 0 0 1 2 South Carolina 0 0 0 1 Stanford 1 1 3 4 Tennessee 1 1 1 1 Texas A&M 1 1 3 4 VCU 0 0 0 1 Virginia 3 5 6 9 Yale 2 4 6 7 Notes The tournament was not held in 1992. There are no surviving stats from 1991 or 1993; as such, the all-stars are unknown. 1994 stats do not contain full individual information and only contain team stats + the names of the top four all-stars. Undergraduate and Division II titles prior to 2008 are retroactive. In years listed as N/A, the stats do not contain enough information to retroactively determine Undergraduate and Division II eligibility. No D2-eligible teams participated in 2006. The 2002 tournament was originally announced as "hosted by George Washington University;" however, it had to be moved to Maryland due to room access issues at GWU, and most of the staff was recruited by Maryland. GWU assisted in running the tournament. See Also National Invitation Tournament All-American Invitational List of college quizbowl national champions ACF tournaments ACF Fall 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 ACF Winter 2009 2010 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 ACF Regionals 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 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 ACF Nationals 1991 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 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025