Ladue

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Ladue Rams
LadueMO.jpg
Location:
Ladue, MO
Club Presidents Eric Yin
Coaches Jonah Krueger
State Championships NAQT: 2012, 2013, 2018, 2019
MSHSAA: 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2018, 2019, 2021
National Championships 2013 NSC, 2013 NASAT, 2017 NSC (JV)
National Appearances HSNCT: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2019
PACE: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
NHBB: 2019 (JV)
Program Status Active
School Size 1319
NAQT Page link
Website link

Ladue Horton Watkins High School ("LADUE??!" for short) is a public high school in the St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area.

Ladue won the Class 4 MSHSAA state titles in 2006 and 2009 despite attending almost no tournaments, doing so due to knowledge gained in the real world and the relative weakness of the Missouri canon. After teams led by Max Schindler and Ben Zhang began attending tournaments regularly, Ladue dominated Missouri quizbowl and became one of the best teams in the nation, winning two national titles in 2013.

The team experienced a period of decline after 2014, but returned to prominence in 2016–17 when they won the national JV title and once again became the dominant team in Missouri.

State Dominance

2009–2014

Beginning with Max Schindler's improvements in the 2009–2010 season, Ladue proved itself as the undisputed top Missouri team of the first half of the 2010's, winning the vast majority of Missouri tournaments they attended from 2011-2014, often doing so undefeated. Ladue won the MSHSAA Class 4 state championship in 2011–2014, and won the NAQT Missouri Qualifier when it attended that tournament in 2012 and 2013.

2014–2019

Following Ben Zhang's graduation in 2014, Ladue did not even advance to the district playoffs in 2015, breaking a streak of 9 consecutive State appearances. However, in 2016, freshmen Moses Schindler and Raj Paul led Ladue to a 2nd place finish at the MSHSAA Class 4 state championship behind Hickman. In 2017, Ladue once again finished 2nd at MSHSAA State, this time behind Washington.

By the 2017–2018 season, Ladue had entered another era of statewide dominance, with Raj Paul and Akshay Govindan as leading scorers. Ladue A went undefeated to any in-state team the entire season, winning nearly all of their tournaments including the NAQT Missouri Qualifier and the MSHSAA state championship.

In 2019, Ladue earned their fourth NAQT Missouri title and eighth MSHSAA State title. The A team incurred only a single loss to an in-state team all season, to St. Joseph Central at the NAQT Qualifier. Ladue B also became quite dominant, led by senior Jack Madden. The full B team placed 2nd at MFAT—beating out the then powerhouse Louisiana—while an incomplete B team (consisting of Madden and several C team members) placed 5th at the NAQT Qualifier.

2019–2021

Despite graduating most of the A team, Ladue managed to quickly rebuild in 2019–20 under juniors Louis Li and Eric Yin. However, the rise of a formidable in-state opponent in the St. Louis Patriots prevented Ladue from achieving the same level of dominance as in years past. The upstart Patriots defeated Ladue A in the playoffs of WUFAT, and in the finals of both WHIT and the NAQT Missouri Qualifier. Nevertheless, Ladue successfully defended their tournament titles at the Patriot-less MFAT and WUHSAC.

Ladue's B team didn't fare as well as before, falling short of making the playoffs at a non-novice tournament until the NAQT Qualifier. There, the B team lost only one close match in the prelims to STL Patriots, then defeated North Kansas City A in the playoffs and finished 12th.

Once the COVID-19 pandemic began, Ladue competed in many online tournaments with national or super-regional fields, often placing highly.

Returning most of their players in 2020–21, Ladue's A team swept the regular season with undefeated wins at every in-state tournament including WUHSAC and MOQBA Spring. This was despite the (re-)emergence of other strong teams like Ray-Pec and St. Joseph Central. The B team also became formidable, taking 5th at a stacked Kickapoo Classic, though they were frequently hampered by an incomplete roster.

MSHSAA's decision to use Academic Hallmarks questions threatened to derail Ladue's path to the 2021 state championship—questionable packets contributed to close shaves against Notre Dame and Kirksville. Nevertheless, the team went on to win their first-ever Class 5 title.

Nationals Performances

A team of Max Schindler, Zev Kane, Ben Zhang, Jeremy Novack, and Haohang Xu tied for 13th at the 2011 HSNCT, where Max was an All-Star. Ladue tied for 5th at the 2012 HSNCT and placed 10th at the 2012 NSC.

In 2013, a Ladue A team of Schindler, Zhang, Xu, and Jialin Ding placed 2nd at HSNCT to LASA A, and Ladue B tied for 21st after going 7-3 in the prelims. The same Ladue A team won the 2013 NSC after defeating LASA A twice in a row, and was selected to be the Missouri NASAT team, winning the tournament in the first game of an advantaged final with Texas.

In 2014, a Ladue A team of Zhang, Ding, Kisan Thakkar, and Michael Prablek finished fourth at NSC, with two losses to St. John's and a 30 point loss to tournament champion LASA A. A team of Zhang, Ding, Thakkar, and Sam Crowder then finished fourth at HSNCT, with a 420-345 loss to Arcadia A and a 375-365 loss to LASA B.

In 2016, a Ladue A team of Raj Paul, Royce Dong, Michael Muzinich, and Logan Page finished 56th at NSC, while a Ladue B team of Akshay Govindan, Glen Morgenstern, Will Gorski, Jack Madden, Jeffrey Wang, and Charlie Loitman placed 85th.

In 2017, a Ladue A all-sophomore team of Raj Paul, Akshay Govindan, Moses Schindler, and Jack Madden earned the JV title at NSC, finishing in 27th place overall.

In 2018, a Ladue A team of Raj, Akshay, Moses, and Will Gorski finished 15th at NSC, while a Ladue B team of Charlie Loitman, Jack Madden, Eric Yin, and Louis Li placed 71st.

In 2019, a Ladue A team of Raj, Akshay, and Louis Li tied for 19th at HSNCT, after going undefeated in the prelims except for a loss against eventual champion Beavercreek. The same A team with the addition of Moses (who was sick during HSNCT) placed 11th at NSC after close losses to Strake Jesuit andMiami Valley.

Additionally, Ladue attended its first History Bowl nationals in 2019, where an all-sophomore team of Louis Li, Matthew Levy, and Manar Fajors placed 27th in the JV division.

Though Ladue registered for the 2020 NSC, it was unfortunately canceled due to COVID.

In 2021, a Ladue team of Louis, Eric Yin, Jason Xu, Max Yang, Yuvan Chali, and Sophia Xu placed 22nd at the NSC, after being third in a tough prelim bracket with top teams Arcadia and Chattahoochee.

Records

MSHSAA State

Ladue's incredible talent, combined with a switch to NAQT questions in the 2011 season, led the team to shatter many MSHSAA State championship tournament records.

  • Max Schindler's 135 tossups (of 250 possible) in the 2011 MSHSAA State Championship broke Mike Wehrman's longstanding record of 133 set in 1997.
  • Ladue set a new record for most points scored throughout the five round State tournament in three consecutive years, breaking the previous record of 2585 with scores of 2840 in 2011, 3360 in 2012, and 3500 in 2013 (700 of 900 points per game). Ladue's total scores of 3020 points in 2014 and 2910 points in 2018 gives Ladue the top 5 spots on this list through 2018.
  • Ladue broke the single-game record of 640 points that stood for sixteen years three times in 2012, with a high score of 750 (of 900 possible). In fact, Ladue's average in five games was higher than this previous single-game record. Ladue then broke their own record the next year by scoring 830 points in a preliminary game. As of 2018, Ladue holds 9 of the top 10 highest scoring games in State history.
  • As of 2018:
    • Ladue holds the three highest scores in State championship games, setting the state record of 600 in 2013. Ladue also scored a semifinal record of 690 points in 2012.
    • Ladue has reached the State tournament twelve times, leading all schools in number of Class 4 tournament appearances and finishing in the top three each time. Since their first appearance in 2006, Ladue had only missed the 2015 tournament. Nine consecutive appearances from 2006-2014 is a Class 4 record streak, matched by Savannah (2000-2008, sometimes in Class 4 but mostly in Class 3). Thomas Jefferson still holds the record of 10 consecutive top three finishes (1999-2008 in Class 1).
    • Ladue's streak of four consecutive state championships only matches the Class 4 streak set by North Kansas City in the first four state tournaments from 1996-1999. Ladue's six consecutive appearances in the championship game from 2009-2014 is a Class 4 record, surpassing the four consecutive appearances by North Kansas City, Parkway Central, and Liberty.
    • Ladue's eight championships and three second place finishes are the Class 4 records for championship game wins and appearances.

NAQT

According to NAQT's database:

Hosting

Starting in 2011, Ladue began hosting the Ladue Invitational Spring Tournament (LIST), usually using a well-received housewritten question set but sometimes mirroring other sets. Ladue mirrored the VTACO set in 2015 and FACTS in 2018. In 2019, Ladue used the CAST set it had written in collaboration with other teams. The tournament did not occur in 2016 or 2020.

Ladue has also sporadically hosted a Ladue Fall Novice Tournament, mirroring various novice-level question sets. This tournament has occurred in 2011 (using FNT), 2013 (using SCOP Novice), and most recently in 2019 (using RAMS).

Current Members

Seniors (2021)

Juniors (2022)

  • Will Bender
  • Theo Miller
  • Anthony Chaboude

Sophomores (2023)

Freshmen (2024)

  • Sophia Xu
  • Daphne Golden
  • Jeremy Wang

Alumni

Tournament Results

2012-13 Academic Year

Date Tournament Question Set Team Record Rank Stats
10/20 Missouri Fall NAQT IS-118 A 13-1 1/32 [1]
B 9-3 3/32 [2]
C 4-6 18/32 [3]
D 4-6 19/32 [4]
E 2-8 29/32 [5]
12/01 Tiger Bowl V HSAPQ-32 A 13-0 1/31 [6]
B 10-2 2/31 [7]
C 6-4 11/31 [8]
D 4-6 25/31 [9]
2/02 Mort Walker Invitational GSAC A 11-0 1/24 [10]
B 11-2 2/24 [11]
C 9-3 3/24 [12]
D 8-3 9/24 [13]
E 6-5 14/24 [14]
2/16 WUHSAC XV BHSAT A 11-1 1/28 [15]
B 5-4 17/28 [16]
3/02 NAQT Missouri Qualifier NAQT IS-124 A 13-0 1/30 [17]
B 10-3 2/30 [18]
C 4-6 16/30 [19]
D 2-8 28/30 [20]


External links


PACE National Scholastic Championship Champions

1998-2007
1998: State College  · 1999: State College  · 2000: State College  · 2001: State College  · 2002: Richard Montgomery  · 2003: Dorman  · 2004: Maggie Walker  · 2005: TJHSST A  · 2006: Raleigh Charter  · 2007: Maggie Walker
2008-2017
2008: Walt Whitman  · 2009: Wilmington Charter  · 2010: State College  · 2011: State College  · 2012: Hunter A  · 2013: Ladue  · 2014: LASA A · 2015: DCC A  · 2016: LASA A  · 2017: DCC A
2018-2027
2018: TJHSST A  · 2019: TJHSST A  · 2021: TJHSST A  · 2022: Lambert  · 2023: Barrington A  · 2024: Barrington


MSHSAA Class 4 State Champion
Preceded by
Year
Succeeded by
Liberty
2006
North Kansas City
North Kansas City
2009
Kirksville
Kirksville
2011, 2012, 2013, 2014
Clayton
Washington
2018, 2019
(defending champions)


NAQT Missouri Champion
Preceded by
Year
Succeeded by
Savannah
2012, 2013
Hallsville
Washington
2018, 2019
St. Louis Patriots
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