Jake Sundberg

Jake Sundberg

Noted subjects	Math, Physics, Sports, Video Games, Japan, General
Current college	University of Alabama (2010-)
Past colleges	University of Louisiana at Lafayette (2004-2010)
High school	Westgate (2000-2004)
Stats	HDWhite • NAQT

Jake Sundberg is a 2008 graduate of Louisiana with a BS in mathematics and a 2014 graduate of Alabama with an MA in mathematics. He was the president of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Club for Academic Competition from 2005 to 2010, where he was also the club's leader in nearly all statistical areas. He is consistently a top scorer in competitions in the southeast and southwest regions. He served as Vice President of Internal Affairs of Alabama Academic Quizbowl Team during the 2012-13 season and the President during the 2013-14 season. He currently plays for Louisiana where he is a club officer.

University of Louisiana

In his first term as president, Louisiana's DII team won the 2006 Southwest D2 SCT and advanced to ICT, held at the University of Maryland. They defeated Tulane 330-210 in the championship game to advance to ICT, where they unfortunately finished tied for 26th. Also, in his first campaign as president, the team consisting of Jake Sundberg, Scott Broussard, Sumedh Deoras, and German Acuna won the 2006 Sword Bowl mirror held at the University of Oklahoma.

Louisiana did not play in very many regular difficulty tournaments during Jake's first stint with the team but results were always relatively decent in most tournaments Louisiana played, except for SCT where Jake's DI teams did not do so hot.

His strengths as a player are math, physics, sports, literature, Japan, and general knowledge, as well as buzzer fakes. His scoring abilities don't diminish with respect to difficulty level, either. He also adjusts very well to new teammates, given that his team has had a different lineup at almost every tournament he has attended since 2004. Fascinatingly, this continued to be the case for quite some time, although his current Louisiana squad seems to participate as the same quartet more often than not.

Move to Alabama

Jake and Jonathan Thompson were rivals from 2006-2010. There were been so many games that have gone down to the last tossup between ULL and Alabama over the last five years that Jake basically loathed playing against Alabama and hence joined them. The rivalry between ULL and Alabama is most easily explained as follows: it is the quizbowl equivalent of what Saints/Falcons was before the 2000's. Jake decided to join Alabama because they were the only team that took any interest in him.

The first tournament he played at as a member of the Crimson Tide was EFT at Georgia Tech -- his team finished 5th after faltering in the playoffs, notably losing by 425 points to Walton which many forum members held against him. He called this "an event of little importance" and proceeded to play better for most of the rest of the season.

ACF Fall 2010 saw Alabama finish 3rd after losing their opening match to noted community college player Dallin Kelson by quite a few and then later they dropped a close one to Georgia Tech.

In the spring, Alabama played and won a mirror of Terrapin at ULL and Jake won the scoring title.

Alabama proceeded to win the DI Region 6 SCT title and ACF Regionals without Dargan Ware as he was interviewing for summer jobs. Instead, noted sophomore Giacomo Baggiani played ACF Regionals at Tulane, and his alterego, the empty chair, played on the team that won SCT. Jake also won the scoring title at ACF Regionals after being told to buzz in at least 7 times per game by Dargan Ware.

Alabama participated at Penn Bowl in 2011. His team finished 8th in the 18-team field, a disappointment, with teammates Jonathan Thompson, Rob Palmer, and Kyle LeRoy. Later, a team of Jake, Jonathan Thompson, Rob Palmer, and Giacomo Baggiani won ACF Regionals at Tulane.

At the 2011 ICT, Alabama finished 12th with an overall record of 8-6 (after changing forfeits from Watkins-gate to wins). They defeated Jordan Palmer's Toronto team in a tiebreaker match for second bracket after losing to them earlier in the day. Alabama did not play ACF Nationals this year.

The 2011-12 season saw Alabama acquire Harrison Brown, which paid dividends. He was magically a superstar, although Sundberg often refers to him as a "statistical diva." With Brown's superior knowledge of analytical things and random things like Maastricht, Alabama became a force. Jake played ACF Nationals solo, finishing 25th. Jake and Harrison played Penn Bowl and BARGE mirrors as a duo. Jake's Alabama team defeated Harrison's DII-eligible team in an advantaged final. An Alabama team of Jake, Harrison, and Jonathan later won 2012 ACF Regionals. The community forecast them finishing 20th at ICT, but they finished 12th again.

The 2012-13 season saw Alabama play many tournaments as a fragmented team. Harrison Brown forced Jake and the rest of Alabama to adopt a quizbowl version of "Ubuntu" because they were, as it would happen to be, dysfunctional. Jake and Harrison played a mirror of Penn-ance together, finishing second behind Georgia Tech, a trend. Jake played ACF Fall 2013 at Vanderbilt on a two-man team with Dargan, where they finished 6-6. In the Spring, Alabama played in the Region 5 SCT at Tennessee, finishing with a 10-2 record and 21.34 ppb. Later, Jake, Dargan, and Harrison lost two close games to Georgia Tech at Regionals, a trend. Alabama once again had its full lineup at ICT again and started 7-3, but as the law dictates, they finished 12th after losing their last three matches. Alabama played ACF Nationals, falling to 16th after losing an early morning match against Andrew Hart by 10 points. A win would have put them in the top bracket. Instead, Alabama lost to Andrew Hart in a tiebreaker. A trend.

The 2013-14 season saw Alabama lose Harrison and Dargan to graduation. Enter the brave sophomore Nathaniel Oehl and the ever-valiant freshman Forrest Walker. This team never actually played full strength outside of practice, and although they have placed well, they never actually won a tournament. Jake, Nathaniel and Forrest finished tied for 3rd at Michigan Fall Tournament, and at the home mirror of DRAGOON, which featured Canadians, Alabama A finished 6-4. In the Spring semester, Alabama (Jake, Forrest, Nathaniel, Mark Blanton) played SUBMIT at Southeast Missouri State University, starting the day an abysmal 3-5 before winning the last two. Two close losses to Truman State cost Alabama second place at that tournament. SCT saw Alabama split their starting four into two, with Jake, Jonathan, Mark Morris and Meredith Rickard finishing tied for second in the competition. The Division II team also finished second. Both teams qualified for ICT. At ACF Regionals 2014, Jake, Jonathan, Forrest, and Patrick Rickert finished second after heading into the last match of the round robin undefeated, only to lose to Louisville. They lost to Louisville again in the final. The team finished 28th at both ICT and ACF Nationals.

Back in Louisiana, 2014-present

After a failed attempt to join Georgia Tech, Jake ended up back at ULL where he is currently the captain of the team. His team ended up going 7-1 to win the 2014 Louisiana Open, a tournament played on the 2013 Penn Bowl set that wasn't cleared until the Fall of 2014. He also won the scoring title at that event. At the 2014 Penn Bowl mirror, Jake's team went 6-3 to grab second place, with Jake winning another scoring title. Louisiana finished 3rd at ACF Fall at Alabama. To begin the Spring semester, Louisiana went to the DEES mirror at Rice, which they went 9-2 to win, outlasting Texas A&M and Carlo De Guzman in the final. The next week, they went 6-4 at ACF Regionals, ultimately finishing third in the event. Jake won the scoring title at that event.

High School Career

Jake played for Westgate in New Iberia, Louisiana from 2001-2004, where the team underwent three coaching changes. Despite this fact, Jake matured into a decent player over time and contributed lots of science-y questions to his team which was lacking in that area. His general knowledge base began to grow when he began losing teammates due to retirements, which is an unfortunate trend in his quizbowl life. The team had a winning record in all four seasons during Jake's tenure.