Rochester
| Rochester | |
| Location: "Yougly" Rochester, NY | |
|---|---|
| Current President or Coach | Jamie Frank |
| National championships | 2008 College Bowl |
| NAQT Page | link |
The Thelion Society is the quizbowl program at the University of Rochester, a private, non-religious, NCAA Division III research university in Rochester, NY. It is active in all major formats and on the independent circuit, playing events from Boston to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and from Ottawa to Maryland.
History
The quizbowl club was founded at approximately the turn of the century, give or take one year. From 2001 through 2004, the club built itself up from an underfunded niche group in the Students' Association into a nationally recognized name under the leadership of President Michael Adelman. Dan Blake presided in the 2004-2006 years before turning over the reins to Jason Eisele. The current president is Jamie Frank.
The Thelion Society claimed third place in Division I at the 2005 NAQT ICT at Tulane with a team of Fred Bush, Micha Elsner, Sid Parameswaran, and Gordon Arsenoff, but has no national championships.
Tournaments
The Thelion Society typically runs a novice-oriented tournament, the Frederick Douglass Invitational Championship, in the fall, and a local high school event, the Flower City Invitational, in the spring. Both are played on NAQT Invitational Series questions. Rochester hosted ACF Fall 2005 but has run no other packet submission tournaments of note.
Frederick Douglass Invitational Championship
The FDIC is a fall tournament aimed at new players, which incorporates a CUT-style restriction on the number of quizbowl veterans per team. The tournament has typically attracted several Pitt teams and others each year in a field of somewhere around 16 sides. Dwight Kidder is known to come along and contribute his moderating skills.
The inaugural tournament, in fall 2003, was won by a team of Dan Greenstein and Adam Fine from Maryland. The 2007 edition was dominated by Carnegie Mellon's team.
Flower City Invitational
The FCI is Rochester's annual high school tournament. Several Rochester-area high schools, many of whom participate in Masterminds throughout the year, are its regular attendees, though teams have been known to arrive from as far away as western Pennsylvania. The tournament was first run in spring 2003.
Prominent Former Members
- Fred Bush
- Micha Elsner, currently of Brown
- Michael Adelman
- Gordon Arsenoff
The Thelion Society has spun off a loose, roving trash collective of former players and coaches, based in New York state, who crash the independent events and regionals of the East Coast as well as ocasionally appearing at TRASHionals.
College Bowl
Although Rochester was one of the few schools with nationally competitive programs to remain affiliated with College Bowl, Inc. until it went under, the CBI program at U of R was administratively separated from the Thelion Society. Its funds came from the Student Activities Office rather than from the Thelion Society budget. Rochester's teams finished third at the 2003 CBI NCT at Penn and second at the 2005 CBI NCT at University of Washington before winning the College Bowl title at the 2008 CBI NCT at Macalester.