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 Youkhna, 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, and the current frosh-soph coach is Matt Laird.

History

2008-2009

Regular Season - The 2008-2009 season is considered a radical turning season for Loyola, as they fully embraced good quiz bowl and began to excel at it. 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. Notable finishes include 4th at NAQT State and 4th at IHSA State. Loyola attended both 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 - As always, 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 Kreb and Will Abraham and Freshmen Nolan Winkler and Marcel Youkhna. 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 (after a 1st-round bye) but subsequently lost their second game to Ransom Everglades in order to finish tied for 27th. Loyola also sent a B team consisting of C and D team members, which finished 190th.

2009-2010

Regular Season - The 2009-2010 team had moderate success on the year. The A team primarily consisted of Captain Christian Kreb '10, Nolan Winkler '12, Marcel Youkhna '12, and Will Abraham '10. The team's only tournament victories were both early in the season: at the UIUC Earlybird and the Wheaton North[1] IHSSBCA Kickoffs site. In IHSA: The Rambler won their IHSA Regionals with a 2-0 record and were eliminated by 3.3 PPG in a circle-of-death tiebreaker (along with victor New Trier and OPRF) at IHSA Sectionals.

PACE NSC - Loyola was eliminated from the first flight after their 6th game, going 4-2 with losses against Dorman A and DCC A. They then beat Walter Johnson to finish their prelim bracket with a record of 5-2. In the playoff bracket, Loyola then went 3-4 (losses to TJ B, Hoover, Seven Lakes A, and Dupont Manual A) to be involved in a 3-way circle of death with Hoover and Quince Orchard. Loyola beat Hoover 160-140 in their first half-packet match and went on to beat Quince Orchard 170-150 in their next half-packet match. This gave Loyola the 4th rank in the bracket, meaning they played St. Joseph's A in their crossover match, which they lost 290-270. After accounting for Southside's disqualification, Loyola finished 23rd.

NAQT HSNCT - As always, 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 all but 2 rounds, Nolan and Marcel were the only regular A Team members present. Loyola generally played awful during HSNCT, which manifested itself early as shown by the Rambler's initial 1-2 record with losses to Culver and Danville. The Ramblers bounced back, winning 4 in a row - including a victory over LASA B by 5 points despite thinking the game was decided 3 tossups earlier due to the accidental addition of 100 points to LASA's score on the fault of Nolan's scorekeeping in his notebook. Loyola then lost to St. John's and beat Rocky Grove to ensure a playoff berth, despite their initial 1-2 record. The Ramblers then lost to St. Mark's and finished Saturday with a record of 6-4, meaning 1 more Loyola loss would eliminate them from the tournament. Loyola played intra-state competition (with their full A-Team Lineup) the 1st match of the playoffs, beating Carbondale soundly. Loyola then lost a close match to Hoover 295-265 to end their tournament, resulting in a final place of tied for 43rd.

2010-2011

Regular Season - The 2010-2011 team had moderate success on the year, being ranked as high as 12th [2], 16th mid-season [3], and 19th pre-nationals [4] by Fred Morlan, but had a disappointing end to their season, finishing in the 30s at both nationals. The A team primarily consisted of Captain Nolan Winkler '12, Marcel Youkhna '12, Brian Peterson '11, and Morgan Venkus '13. The team's best finishes were both at NIU, 2nd at both Huskie Bowl [5] and ATROPHY [6]. In IHSA: The Rambler won their IHSA Regionals with a 2-0 record and were eliminated by a loss to St. Ignatius at IHSA Sectionals.

PACE NSC - Loyola was missing A-Team starter Morgan Venkus for the entire tournament, A-Team starter Brian Peterson for Sunday, and Morgan's replacement B-Team starter Patrick Rahlfs for Sunday. They went 2-3 in their first flight, getting demolished by Maggie Walker A and losing close matches to Olmsted Falls and Hunter B. In the playoff flight, Loyola went 3-2, losing to unofficial rival IMSA and Rock Bridge. On Sunday, the Loyola team became an undermanned 2-person team of just Nolan and Marcel, who started off their day with a loss on a half-packet tiebreaker to DCC B, who they had earlier beaten, which resulted in placement in the 5th superplayoff bracket. They went 3-1, with a win over New Trier carried over, losing to Clayton. This resulted in a 4-1 finish and 1st place in the V bracket, a 9-6.5 record overall and a final place of 31st.

NAQT HSNCT - As always, the date of HSNCT and Loyola's graduation were the same day, meaning that the team was short-handed for the entire tournament, as A-Team starter Brian Peterson was replaced by B-Team starter Patrick Rahlfs. Loyola generally played bad during HSNCT, which manifested itself early in their game 3 loss to Detroit County Day, wherein Nolan was 1/0/4 and Loyola combined for 1/3/5. The Ramblers won 4 of their next 6, with 2 close-ish losses to Centennial and Santa Monica, to be 6-3 entering their last match. The Ramblers then repeated last year's performance with a loss once again to St. Mark's and finished Saturday with a record of 6-4, meaning 1 more Loyola loss would eliminate them from the tournament. Loyola was the top-ranked 6-4 team that did not receive a bye, so they cruised through their first 2 playoff matches, beating Treasure Valley Math & Science and Wayzata for the second time. They then faced Georgetown Day School and lost on the last question, 315-355, eliminating them with a 8-5 record to finish tied for 33rd.

Current Year Stats

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.

Loyola currently hosts between 2 and 3 tournaments a year. Their varsity tournament, the Ultima, their frosh/soph tournament Davey & Goliath, and a tournament jointly held with Rockford Auburn that rotates every year, Loyburn. Initially, Davey and Goliath used Aegis Questions but now uses an IS-A Set.

Rivalries

Loyola competed for The Bloodstone Cup in an annual competition against Maine South for a few years. 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 F/S coach Matt Laird. Through three competitions, Loyola led the overall series 2-1.

Many believe there is a rivalry between Loyola and IMSA was born in 2010-2011 due to their players' conducts and their closes matches and tournament finishes throughout the year.

Noted Team Accomplishments

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

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

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)
  • 2009-10: Nolan Winkler (1st team), Marcel Youkhna (1st team)
  • 2010-11: Nolan Winkler (1st team)

Playing for Team Illinois

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

Current Roster

  • Nolan Winkler (Captain, Senior)
  • Marcel Youkhna (Senior)
  • Paddy Rahlfs (Senior)
  • Matt McBride (Senior)
  • Mark Anderson (Senior)
  • Ian Torres (Junior)
  • Morgan Venkus (Junior)
  • Rosie Frehe (Junior)
  • Zach Hayes (Junior)
  • Alex Smith (Sophomore)

Notable Alumni

External Links

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