Alex Dzurick

Alex Dzurick
Current college	University of Missouri-Columbia
Past colleges	None
High school	South Callaway
Stats	HDWhite • NAQT

Player from the University of Missouri-Columbia, formerly of South Callaway, and the current secretary of the Missouri Quizbowl Alliance. Alex also played at the middle school level.

High School Career

Alex is the founder of the William Woods Academic Tournament. A four-year varsity player, he posted impressive scores throughout his high school career, including the third highest points-per-game in the entire state for the 2008 MSHSAA district series (as a senior) and the fourth highest points-per-game in the 2006 MSHSAA Class 3 state championships (as a sophomore).

Alex began playing as a member of the junior varsity squad, but his prowess at the game soon earned him a spot competing at the varsity level during his freshman year. Once an upperclassman, Alex began captaining the squad (this his name on the Missouri Academic Competition Message Board, "socalcaptain"). Alex began to learn of many tournaments as he became more involved, and was able to convince South Callaway to begin attending some. His senior year, the team attended the William Woods Academic Tournament and the Warrenton Warrior Classic.

Outside of MSHSAA competition, Alex competed in the 2006 Missouri Scholars Academy scholar bowl, and lost only to a team of scholars led by fellow quizbowler Terin Budine of Savannah.

Alex was an active member of the Missouri Academic Competition Message Board while in high school, and is now a moderator. Along with Taylor Smith and Kelson Rosbach of Hallsville and Ravi Fernando of Kirksville, Alex attended the Truman State mirror of Zot Bowl in August 2008.

Team Accomplishments

In 2005, South Callaway lost the championship game of the C3D4 tournament to School of the Osage. However, in 2006, a stronger South Callaway contingent came back to topple Osage and take the C3D4 championship. The team advanced to MSHSAA state playoffs, where they placed 4th behind Savannah, Westminster Christian Academy and New Madrid County Central. 2007 and 2008 saw a different foe emerge for the team - conference rival Hallsville, a team featuring Alex's now-teammate at Missouri, Taylor Smith. In both years, South Callaway failed to top the strength of Hallsville in the C3D4 championships. In 2007, Alex and South Callaway were able to squeeze out a victory over the same Hallsville team to become the inaugural Mid-Missouri conference champions, while Hallsville would edge out the team Alex's senior year. At the Warrenton Warrior Classic, South Callaway earned a 4th place finish, while the team would also earn 2nd to Centralia at the William Woods Academic Tournament.

Individual Accomplishments

Alex earned places on the MSHSAA C3D4 All-District team in 2005, 2006 (11.40 tpg), 2007 (13.75 tpg) and 2008. His impressive 20.2 tossups per game in 2008 was the third-highest reported individual score in the state during that year's district tournament. In 2006, he also earned 4th place on the Class 3 All-State team. In 2007 and 2008, Alex earned places on the Mid-Missouri Conference Tournament team. Finally, Alex earned a 2nd place individual medal at the 2008 Warrenton Warrior Classic.

Rivals

Alex's main quiz bowl rival was Taylor Smith of Hallsville, a conference and district opponent. In addition, a smaller rivalry with Charles Hang developed after the 2008 Warrenton tournament. Dzurick, Smith, and Hang are all alumni of the Missouri Scholars Academy.

University of Missouri

While at Mizzou, Alex has been involved in planning the structure of the University of Missouri Quizbowl Club along with fellow Mizzou freshman Charlie Dees. He served as co-tournament director for the first annual Missouri Fall Academic Tournament on November 1, 2008, and the first annual Tiger Bowl on January 24, 2009. During his first year at Mizzou, he attended the ACF Winter tournament in Rolla, NAQT Sectionals Midwest at Washington University, Cardinal Classic XVIII at Stanford, ACF Regionals at Chicago, and ACF Nationals at WashU.

Alex was elected president of the 2009-10 Mizzou club. As such, he has been active in securing funding for the team and communicating on behalf of the club. He served as co-TD for the 2009 incarnation of the MFAT and will be directing the inaugural Mort Walker Invitational on February 13, and served as a moderator at the 2009 Tiger Bowl II. A tight fall schedule and unfortunate death in the family have prevented him from playing thus far, but he plans to attend at least the 2010 NAQT SCT and ACF Regionals and Nationals.

Alex is also a founding member of the Missouri Quizbowl Alliance and serves as the group's secretary.