Loyola Academy

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Loyola Academy Ramblers
Loyola wins IHSSBCA Kickoff 2009 at Wheaton North.jpg
Location:
Wilmette, Illinois. Pictured above (from L to R): Marcel Youkhana, Will Abraham, Christian Kreb, Nolan Winkler, and Lauren Capra after their 2009 WN Kickoff victory.
Coaches David Riley
State Championships 2004 Iowa NAQT
Program Status Unknown
School Size Unknown
NAQT Page link

Loyola Academy is a private, coeducational, Roman Catholic, Jesuit high school located in Wilmette, Illinois, a north suburb of Chicago. It competes in Class AA, the "large school" division, of the Illinois High School Association's (IHSA) State Championship Series. The school does not have a conference affiliation. The current coach of the Ramblers is David Riley.

History

2008-2009

Regular Season - The 2008-2009 season is considered one of the best seasons for Loyola ever. Headed by Captain Jack Glerum and Joe Ahmad, the A team was also contributed to throughout the year by Christian Kreb, Catherine Groden, "Mad Dog" Dan Maddalozzo, and Will Abraham. The team was widely regarded as top 4 in the state, along with Rockford Auburn, New Trier, and Carbondale. Finishes on the year include 2nd at Ultima, 4th at Earlybird, 2nd at Wildcat, 2nd at WN Kickoffs, 4th at HFT, 2nd at Rock Valley, 2nd at NTV, 5th at Northwestern's TIT mirror, 6th (just Jack and Will), 4th at Loyburn, 4th at NAQT States, and 4th at IHSA State. Loyola attended both major Nationals that year.

PACE NSC - At NSC, Loyola took 3 losses in their prelim bracket, Aston, to Maggie Walker A, Chattahoochee, and Southside A. Their 4-3 prelim record got them into the Pozzo playoff bracket, where they went 2-5, only beating TJ B and Bellaire A. This led to their final place of 29th.

NAQT HSNCT - Unfortunately, the date of HSNCT and Loyola's graduation were the same day, meaning that the team was short-handed for pretty much the entire prelims. For four rounds, the team consisted of Juniors Christian and Will and Freshmen Nolan and Marcel. As a result of this, Loyola did make the playoffs, but with only a record of 6-4. In the playoffs, they won their first game but subsequently lost their second game to finish tied for 27th.

2009-2010

Regular Season - The 2009-2010 team has had moderate success so far on the year. The A team primarily consists of Captain Christian Kreb, Nolan Winkler, Marcel Youkhna, and Will Abraham although Lauren Capra has also played on it. The team got off to a great start, with a win at their first tournament the UIUC Earlybird, where Marcel was 5th individual scorer. They then finished 3rd at Loyola Ultima, including another scoring prize for Marcel at 7th. The team's next tournament was the WN Kickoff, where they claimed 1st place out of 60 teams. Next, the team finished 3rd at Decemberist, where Nolan and Marcel were 5th and 6th scorers, respectively. That was followed by a 4th place finish at Auburn's HFT mirror, where Nolan and Marcel once again got scoring prizes as 3rd and 5th top scorers, respectively. The team's most recent tournament was NTV: ANTACID, where they won the consolation championship in order to take 7th. Marcel claimed 8th scorer.

Tournament Hosting

For many years, Loyola Academy was one of the centers for Midwestern quizbowl, with sometimes as many as four major tournaments being held there each year. Over time, their varsity and frosh-soph tournaments were dropped.

One tournament that has stayed in Wilmette is the Ultima tournament. The tournament was conceived by Coach Riley as an attempt to get a different format into Illinois, and, ostensibly, to have an early indicator for potential Team Illinois candidates, given that he was the team's head coach. Invitation to the tournament was exclusive. Riley used a self-developed points system to rank programs in the State, based on their varsity and frosh-soph performance at tournaments. Thus teams were invited based on how well they performed the previous year.

The format was similar to that of the Panasonic Academic Challenge, and typically involved anywhere between 9 and 15 teams, competing three at a time. Currently, it is held to the standards of good quiz bowl, and the 2009 version was held on Sandy Huang's DAFT set.

In 2006, a new frosh-soph tournament was reborn under the direction of then-freshman/sophomore coach Matt Laird, the Davey and Goliath Throwdown. Initially using questions provided by Aegis Questions, the tournament ranks among the higher quality pyramidal frosh/soph tournaments offered in the state each year. In 2009, the tournament used tossups from an IS-A set with bonuses house-written mainly by Jack Glerum, while the 2010 version used just an IS-A set.

Rivalry Awards

Loyola competes for The Bloodstone Cup in an annual competition against Maine South. The annual competition was born from the back-to-back Regional upsets that the teams visited on each other. The award is a crystal goblet filled with hand-tumbled bloodstones, and kept in a wooden presentation box. The award was donated by former F/S coach Matt Laird. Through three competitions, Loyola leads the overall series 2-1.

Noted Team Accomplishments

  • IHSA Regional Titles (7): 1999, 2001-03, 2005, 2008-09
  • IHSA Sectional Titles (3): 1996, 2008-09
  • IHSA State: 4th place, 2009
  • Iowa NAQT State Champions: 2004

IHSSBCA Individual Awards

The following were honored by the Illinois High School Scholastic Bowl Coaches Association (IHSSBCA) for outstanding play through their All-Sectional/All-State Program. Each sectional comprises roughly 24 geographically concentrated teams, and thus roughly 125 starting players. Through the 2006-07 season, the top ten players were recognized in each sectional,(starting with 2007-08, the number was raised to 15) with teams restricted to no more than two nominations (three nominations starting in 2007-08). There are twenty All-State awards given each year (10 First Team, 10 Second Team) in each of Illinois' two classes.

All-Sectional Honorees

  • 2001-02: Megan Hixson
  • 2005-06: Katie Kragh, Matt McKenna
  • 2007-08: Joe Ahmad, Jack Glerum, Mike Verity
  • 2008-09: Joe Ahmad, Jack Glerum

All-State Honorees

  • 2005-06: Matt McKenna (1st team)
  • 2007-08: Joe Ahmad (2nd team)
  • 2008-09: Joe Ahmad (1st team), Jack Glerum (2nd team)

Playing for Team Illinois

  • Stephen Walker (2000)
  • Andy Mathews (2004)
  • Matt McKenna (2006)
  • Mike Verity (2008)

Current Roster

  • Christian Kreb (Captain)
  • Will Abraham
  • Marcel Youkhana
  • Nolan Winkler
  • Lauren Capra
  • Raman Michaels
  • Paul Juska
  • Paddy Rahlfs

Notable Alumni

External Links

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