Thomas Jefferson (VA)

Thomas Jefferson (VA)
Location: Alexandria, VA
State Championships	1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 Scholastic Bowl; 2002, 2005 NAQT
National Championships	2005 PACE; 2003 NAQT, 2004 NAQT, 2005 NAQT, 2008 NAQT; Panasonic
Program Status	Unknown
School Size	Unknown
NAQT Page	link

The Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, often known simply as Thomas Jefferson or TJ, is a school located in Alexandria, VA which has been a notable force in Virginia and national quizbowl since the early 1990s, especially in the period from 2003 to 2005.

Thomas Jefferson hosts at least one high school tournament each year, usually drawing all the elite teams in the DC region as well as teams from farther afield.

State championship performance

Since the Virginia High School League established its Scholastic Bowl championship in 1998, Thomas Jefferson has won the group AAA title nine times (1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009) and finished second in the other three years. Thomas Jefferson also won the title at the 2002 and 2005 NAQT Virginia Championship, and finished second in the other six NAQT state tournaments that have attended. Thus, TJ has finished in either first or second place in 20 out of 21 of the state championship tournaments ever run in Virginia.

B teams

Thomas Jefferson is notable for fielding strong B teams, including two B teams which finished second at NAQT states and a 2005 B team which finished in the top 10 at NAQT nationals and in the final four at PACE nationals (with TJ A winning both of those tournaments). In 2004, TJ B was ranked second after the preliminary rounds in both NAQT nationals and PACE nationals, but choked in the playoff rounds and finished fifth at PACE and outside the top ten at NAQT. In 2011, their B team placed T-8th at HSNCT and 16th at PACE nationals.

Nationals performance

Thomas Jefferson won the Panasonic national championship in 1994 and contributed several players to the Virginia all-star teams which won in 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Thomas Jefferson finished second at the PACE NSC in 2003 and 2004 and won the tournament in 2005. Besides those TJ teams, only State College at the 1998 to 2001 and 2010 to 2011 PACE NSCs have repeated as the champion of any major national championship tournament.

Thomas Jefferson won three straight NAQT national championships, from 2003 to 2005. This included a 40-game winning streak sandwiched between a round 10 prelim loss to Dunbar in 2003 and a round 3 loss to Charter B in 2006. No other team has won back-to-back championships of NAQT HSNCT.

On May 25, 2008, the Thomas Jefferson A team defeated Wilmington Charter A in the 2nd and deciding game of an advantaged final to claim their 4th NAQT National Championship.

2005 team

Widely considered the greatest high school team of all time, the 2005 Thomas Jefferson A team had a regular lineup of Sam Lederer, Dan Wright, Will Sullivan, and Jacob Oppenheim. When playing in tossup/bonus formats with that full lineup, TJ A went undefeated for the entire year, believed to be the first team to do so while playing a significantly competitive schedule.

While two other teams have won both major national championships (NAQT HSNCT[1] and PACE NSC) in the same year, Thomas Jefferson's 2005 team remains the only one to go undefeated at both tournaments.

Notable alumni

• Andrew Yaphe - Class of 1994
• Andy Goss - Class of 1998
• Leo Wolpert - Class of 2001
• S. R. Sidarth - Class of 2003
• Sam Lederer - Class of 2005
• Jacob Oppenheim - Class of 2005
• Will Sullivan - Class of 2005
• Dan Wright - Class of 2005
• Evan Silberman - Class of 2007
• Phil Graves - Class of 2008

Tournament Results

2012-13 Academic Year

Date	Tournament	Question Set	Team	Record	Rank	Stats
10/06	ANCHORMAN	SCOP Novice	A	9-0	1/30	[2]
			B	6-4	5/30	[3]
			C	7-3	13/30	[4]
			D	7-3	19/30	[5]
10/14	IFT @ Maryland	Illinois Fall	A	8-3	9/24	[6]
10/27	Cavalier Classic XV	NAQT IS-120	A	10-2	2/21	[7]
			B	5-5	9/21	[8]
12/08	GSAC XX	GSAC	A	10-1	2/32	[9]
			B	6-4	17/32	[10]
			C	5-5	19/32	[11]
1/12	Metro Richmond Invitational	HSAPQ-33	A	8-3	4/24	[12]
			B	6-5	6/24	[13]

Succession of titles

PACE NSC Champion
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
Maggie Walker	2005	Raleigh Charter

NAQT HSNCT Champion
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
St. John's	2003, 2004, 2005	Richard Montgomery

NAQT HSNCT Champion
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
Maggie Walker	2008	Wilmington Charter

Succession of minor titles

Panasonic Academic Challenge Champion
Preceded by	Year	Succeeded by
Torrey Pines	1994	Florida All-Stars