Hinsdale Central
| Hinsdale Central High School | |
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| Location: Hinsdale, Illinois | |
| Coaches | Alan McCloud |
| State championships | 1992 IHSA |
| National championships | none |
| Nationals appearances | 2014 HSNCT T-34 |
| Program status | active |
Hinsdale Central High School is a public high school in Hinsdale, Illinois, a west suburb of Chicago. It competes in the West Suburban Conference and Class AA, the large school division, of the IHSA's State Championship Series.
Roster
A Team
- Sunny Chen
- James Zhou
- Ankush Bajaj
- B.J. Ryan
- Hugo Zoells
- Harrison Wang
History
Early Years
The team was coached by Donna Watkins throughout the 1990s and the early 2000s. Under her, the team won the 1992 IHSA State Championship Tournament and finished 2nd in 1998 and 2002, racking up a succession of conference, regional, and sectional titles in the process. Upon her retirement, Alisha McCloud and then Eric Jensen coached in succession, followed by Alan McCloud taking over as the new (and current) head coach.
The team usually found itself near the top of the conference, and advanced to IHSA State numerous times due to being in an easy Sectional (which it is not in anymore), though it was never really competitive or important in the Illinois quiz bowl scene.
2013-2014
Starting with the 2013-2014 school year, Hinsdale Central's team was composed entirely of sophomores and freshmen, due the the graduation of its entire A team from the previous season and the loss of everyone else. That year's freshman recruiting class was also weak, as only 5 freshmen were left by the end of the season; surprisingly, the team gained just as many new sophomores as freshmen, making the class of 2016 arguably the most successful recruiting class in Hinsdale Central's history. The sophomores proved to be highly motivated, surpassing the previous team in several regards and bringing the program to new heights.
Its A team included the core of captains Sunny Chen and James Zhou, as well as a mix of Ankush Bajaj, BJ Ryan, Hugo Zoells, Harrison Wang, and Andrew C. As the season went on, the team made great strides, placing well at tournaments, many of which were attended unaffiliated, becoming, next to perhaps Barrington, the definitive best frosh-soph team in the state. After HFT in December, it landed at 69th place in its HSQBRank debut, of which some members were very proud. The team often struggled with negging, as it almost always found itself leading the field in negs at tournaments; James's personal record was 26 in a tournament, though he often got 22+, and Sunny's record was 17 negs. As expected, the team maintained recent dominance within the West Suburban Conference, going undefeated for 15 games. The team won the semifinal and final matches even with top scorer Sunny Chen absent. The team did not attend any State Championships, failing to qualify for IHSA and Masonics, and opting to not attend the NAQT Illinois State Championship.
2014 HSNCT-With its entirely-sophomore team, Hinsdale Central entered its first national tournament with moderate expectations. With two close losses against Dorman and Richard Montgomery, the team was confident that it would finish the prelims 7-3 until two heart-breaking losses to Ransom Everglades A and Village A. Thus, the team entered the playoffs 6-4 in the losers' bracket. There, they defeated fellow Illinois school Fremd as well as Winchester Thurston A before losing to Harmony Science Academy by 10 points, ending their playoff run 8-5 and finishing in t-34th place.
Individual Awards
IHSSBCA All-Sectional
- Sunny Chen (2014)
- James Zhou (2014)
IHSSBCA All-State
- Sunny Chen, Second Team (2014)
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