Saint Viator
| Saint Viator Lions | |
| |
|---|---|
| Location: Arlington Heights, Illinois | |
| Coaches | Jan Grana |
| State Championships | none |
| National Championships | none |
| Program Status | Unknown |
| School Size | Unknown |
| NAQT Page | link |
Saint Viator High School is a private college preparatory school in Arlington Heights, Illinois. It currently competes as a member of the North Metropolitan Scholastic Bowl League in the greater Chicago area and in Class AA, the "large school" division of the IHSA State Championship Series. Its head coach from 2011-2014 was Neva O'Laughlin, who was its Frosh/Soph coach before that and who generally supported the traditions cited below.
History
The Saint Viator Scholastic Bowl Program has existed since the late 1990s.
The 2008-2009 Varsity season was the breakout season for Viator Scholastic Bowl. The incredibly balanced scoring of Dan Donohue, Jeff Geringer, Captain Alex Grabowski, and Sean Koller meant the team routinely finished at the tournaments like the North Metropolitan Scholastic Bowl League (1st), Kaneland Varsity (2nd), Fremd Varsity (2nd), Huskie Bowl ( 5th), and NAQT Illinois State Tournament (5th), before being upset in a four-point game by Deerfield in the Regional Championships of the 2009 IHSA State Championship Tournament. When twenty-five percent of the scoring (Alex Grabowski) went to Europe just in time for nationals, Richard Hutyra joined the team which took 47th at the 2009 NSC and made the playoffs at the 2009 HSNCT, taking 58th out of 192.
Traditions
Since the IHSA passed its infamous uniform requirement, the team's uniform has been their trademark red and blue bowling shirts (get it? Scholastic Bowl...). The shirts are embroidered with a question mark surrounded by the words "St. Viator Scholastic Bowl Team" and each player's last name is stitched above their breast pocket.
The team also has a memorable ritual. At every tournament, team members bring along The Book of Courage, a book of courageous quotes assembled by inspirational speaker Matthew Kelly (many of the quotes are from Kelly himself) and distributed to every student at Viator. At halftime, one player will choose a quote at random. Varsity players sign the Book of Courage and the book itself is kept in the same bag as the lockout system.
Around Saint Viator High School, the team is known for its spirit wear t-shirts that say "Tradition" (the "i" is a buzzer) and "Learned Not Given." (The football team's t-shirts once read "Tradition" and "Earned Not Given.") The team hosts one annual fundraiser: selling pieces of pie on Pi Day (March 14th).
Tournament Hosting
On September 26th, 2009, Viator hosted a tournament for the first time in the program's history—The Septemberist, a JV tournament on the Fall Novice set.
Noted Team Accomplishments
- IHSA Regional Titles (0):
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
- 2008-2009 Dan Donohue
For 2009–2010, Dan Donohue was named to the Second All-State Team for Class AA; he was a student at St. Viator at the time, but was not on its Scholastic Bowl team.