Streator
| Streator Bulldogs | |
| |
|---|---|
| Location: Streator, Illinois | |
| Coaches | Rob Tyne |
| Program Status | Unknown |
| School Size | Unknown |
| NAQT Page | link |
Streator High School is a public high school in Streator, Illinois, between Chicago and Peoria. It competes in Class AA, the "large school" division, of the Illinois High School Association's (IHSA) State Championship Series.
History
Streator's quiz bowl program is one of the older programs in Illinois dating back to 1972 predating modern Illinois Scholastic Bowl. Combined with the Streator Rotary, Streator was one of the more active hubs of quiz bowl in the state throughout the 1970's & 1980's, with the team travelling to virtually any tournament that existed at the time under IHSSBCA Hall of Fame coach, Jerry Vandemark.
During the 1990's, Streator peaked as one of the strongest teams in Illinois, placing in the top four in the IHSA State Tournament three consecutive years between 1998-2000. The team also participated in tournaments in the Chicagoland area and at Decatur MacArthur, exposing itself to the best questions and toughest competition available at the time. In 1999, they lost in the IHSA State Semifinal to Decatur MacArthur when the last tossup was a repeat of a question from the year before and the last bonus, which MacArthur needed to sweep, involved finding areas of rectangles given their bases and heights. They lost the 2000 Final in the Masonic tournament to Stevenson on the last question as well. Their top player was Ben Ricca, who was generally considered the top player in Illinois during that era. He formed a question writing company called Illinois Questions along with Tim Holbrook of University (Normal) and David Shalowitz of New Trier that lasted a few years after the three of them played together on Team Illinois at PAC.
Following Vandemark's retirement in 1997, the Bulldogs were coached by various coaches including John Burke, who joined the team after coaching Warrensburg-Latham in 2003. Burke and Streator would remain competitive throughout the 2010's until his retirement in 2013. Burke was inducted into the IHSSBCA Hall of Fame in 2008. Since, the Bulldogs have yet to return to its former success but still remain competitive in local & regional tournaments including the PAWAC Tournament. In 2023, Streator competed in the Academic WorldQuest Tournament hosted by the World Affairs Council of America in Washington, D.C.
Notable Team Accomplishments
- IHSA State Tournament: 2000 - 3rd Place (2A), 1999 - 4th Place (2A), 1998 - 4th Place (2A).
- Masonic State Tournament: 2000 - 2nd Place, 1998 - 3rd Place, 1996 - 2nd Place
- IHSA Sectional titles: 2000 (2A), 1999 (2A), 1998 (2A), 1988, 1986
- IHSA Regional titles: 2015 (2A), 2011 (2A)
- Interstate-8 Conference Champions: 2017
- Peoria Area World Affairs Council Tournament Champions: 2023
- IHSSBCA NAQT Illinois State Championship: 2015 - 35th, 2014 - 35th