John Lawrence
| John Lawrence | |
| |
| Noted subjects | Music, Literature, Visual Art |
| Current college | University of Chicago (2013-) |
| Past colleges | Yale (2008-2012), King's College London (2012-2013) |
| High school | N/A |
| Stats | HDWhite • NAQT |
John Lawrence is the current team captain of the University of Chicago, and the former team captain of Yale University. He is known for his deep music knowledge (he and Kevin Koai are widely regarded as the two strongest specialists ever in that subject), and he is generally considered one of the strongest active literature players. John's non-quizbowl interests include bow ties and fancy cooking.
The Yale Years
John Lawrence was the President of Yale Student Academic Competitions from 2010-2012, during which time he was captain of the winning team at 2011 ACF Nationals and co-captain (with Matt Jackson) of the winning team at 2012 ACF Nationals. He had the second-highest number of powers in the field at 2011 Chicago Open while playing on the 2nd-place team with Matt Weiner, Matt Bollinger, and Gautam Kandlikar. He won the main event of the 2012 Chicago Open playing with Matt Bollinger, Eric Mukherjee, and Chris Ray, and the literature side event (WELD) playing with former Yale teammate Kevin Koai.
The British Year
During the 2012-2013 season, John played for King's College London, whose quizbowl team he started. He tied for second playing IFT solo. He led the teams that won the VCU Closed scrimmage and the WIT mirror, putting up over 130 PPG in both cases. He tied for 14th at 2013 ACF Nationals while playing solo, and was the high scorer for the tournament with 91.25 PPG. He also led the team that came in second at the 2013 BSQC. He finished as the fifth-leading scorer en route to winning the 2013 Chicago Open with Jeff Hoppes, Seth Teitler and Selene Koo.
The Chicago Years
During the 2013-2014 season, John led the Chicago team to 4th-place finishes at the 2014 ICT and 2014 ACF Nationals. At Chicago Open 2014, he joined Matt Jackson, Matt Weiner, and Billy Busse on the 2nd-place team, tying for fifth-leading scorer with Seth Teitler. That weekend, he also won the Gorilla Literature Singles.
In 2014-15, John led a triumvirate of himself, Max Schindler, and long-time Maryland stalwart CHRIS RAY, supported alternately by James Lasker and Michael Coates. They won every regular-season tournament in the Midwest region that they played together, then finished 3rd at the 2015 ICT and 2nd at 2015 ACF Nationals (exactly one place above Maryland at each event]]).
Editing
John's editing credentials include:
- 2009 THUNDER (wrote/edited Music)
- several incarnations of BHSAT (Lit and Visual Arts writer/editor)
- 2010 ACF Fall (Fine Arts)
- MAGNI (wrote much of, and oversaw all of, the Lit, Fine Arts, and British History)
- 2012 ACF Regionals (Fine Arts)
- 2013 ACF Regionals (Lit and Auditory Arts)
- 2013 NSC (Auditory Arts)
- Since 2013, Fine Arts subject editor for NAQT IS sets
- 2014 ACF Fall (Philosophy)
- Cane Ridge Revival (Head Editor; Lit, Fine Arts, and Philosophy)
- PADAWAN (Lit, Auditory Arts, Philosophy, and Theoretical Social Sciences)
- DEES (Auditory Arts)
- 2015 SCT (guest-editor with Matt Bollinger)