2002 IHSA State Championship Tournament
The 2002 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Championship Tournaments ended the sixteenth State Championship Series conducted in Scholastic Bowl by the IHSA. It was the eleventh season in which there were separate State Championship Tournaments held for small schools (Class A) and large schools (Class AA). For the sixth year, both tournaments were held at the Peoria Civic Center on Saturday, March 16th.
This would be the first tournament to not have a "host" school. Woodruff's John Rathbun, continued serving on as Tournament Manager. Equipment was furnished by Buzzersystems.com.
Advancement
Teams were assigned to one of eight sectionals within each class. Teams were seeded by the coaches, and teams would be assigned to one of four Regionals within each Sectional. Within each Sectional, the winners and runners-up of each single elimination tournament would advance to the single elimination Sectional. The determination of the geographic boundaries of the Sectional was arbitrarily decided by the IHSA Office.
In the State Championship Tournament, teams would be randomly assigned to pools of four, and play a three match round robin. The winners of each pool would advance to the Championship Match, and the runners-up in each pool would advance to play for third place. Ties were broken by head-to-head results or total points scored (in the event of a three way tie)
Tournament Format
Each round was comprised of 30 toss-ups and accompanying bonus questions.
The top four teams earned trophies and medals for team members, coaches, principals, and activities directors. The trophies were of the design smaller than that of the athletic trophies given out by the IHSA.
Questions
For the second year, the questions were written by a group of retired coaches and person from other states. Tom Egan served his second year as chief editor.
CLASS A
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| State Champion: | ||||
| Runner-Up: | ||||
| Third Place | ||||
| Fourth Place | ||||
POOL #1
The Latin School swept through their pool with a 3-0 record. University High School finished 2-1 and advanced to play for third place.
| Round | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin School | 166 | Stillman Valley | 157 |
| University | 228 | Unity | 78 | |
| 2 | Latin School | 255 | Unity | 105 |
| University | 210 | Stillman Valley | 163 | |
| 3 | Latin School | 273 | University | 154 |
| Stillman Valley | 275 | Unity | 120 |
POOL #2
Carterville advanced with a 3-0 record in the pool. Pleasant Plains, Fairfield, & Cuba were all tied with 1-2 records. Pleasant Plains advanced on total points (378, 322, 334).
| Round | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pleasant Plains | 160 | Fairfield | 140 |
| Carterville | 141 | Cuba | 97 | |
| 2 | Fairfield | 103 | Cuba | 94 |
| Carterville | 152 | Pleasant Plains | 101 | |
| 3 | Carterville | 166 | Fairfield | 79 |
| Cuba | 143 | Pleasant Plains | 117 |
Third Place
| Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| University | 186 | Pleasant Plains | 106 |
Finals
| Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latin School | 267 | Carterville | 76 |
CLASS AA
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| State Champion: | ||||
| Runner-Up: | ||||
| Third Place | ||||
| Fourth Place | ||||
POOL #1
Homewood-Flossmoor, New Trier, and Wheaton North were all tied with 2-1 records. Wheaton North and New Trier advanced to the championship and third place match, respectively, based on total points (585, 744, 802)
| Round | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Homewood-Flossmoor | 185 | Wheaton North | 179 |
| New Trier | 209 | Libertyville | 207 | |
| 2 | Wheaton North | 291 | New Trier | 206 |
| Homewood-Flossmoor | 261 | Libertyville | 207 | |
| 3 | Wheaton North | 332 | Libertyville | 147 |
| New Trier | 329 | Homewood-Flossmoor | 139 |
POOL #2
Hinsdale Central advanced with a 3-0 record in the pool. Auburn advanced with the second best record in the pool (2-1).
| Round | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southeast Springfield | 136 | Granite City | 132 |
| Hinsdale Central | 213 | Auburn | 137 | |
| 2 | Auburn | 241 | Granite City | 130 |
| Hinsdale Central | 253 | Southeast Springfield | 151 | |
| 3 | Hinsdale Central | 243 | Granite City | 138 |
| Auburn | 217 | Southeast Springfield | 103 |
Third Place
| Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Trier | 267 | Auburn | 150 |
Finals
| Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheaton North | 273 | Hinsdale Central | 160 |
Notes
- Eleven years after their first trip, and in their eighth appearance, Wheaton North and their long time coach, Susan Martin finally won their first IHSA State Championship. It would be the first of three in a row, and was the second of five consecutive trips to the State Championship Match.
- The Latin School's third state title brought them into the elite company with IMSA and Quincy as the only three-time state champions. Latin also broke the tie it had been in with Winnebago as the only two-time champions in Class A.
- Class AA's Pool #1 was thrown into chaos after one round. With Wheaton North the odds on favorite to win, they were upset by a Homewood-Flossmoor Team starring Parag Bhayani. This easily ranks among the bigger upsets in Tournament history. Entering the final round, the only thing that would save their chance of getting to the finals was a huge win over Libertyville (which they got), and a New Trier win that held down Homewood-Flossmoor's scoring (which New Trier did). In appreciation, the entire Wheaton North team stood and applauded New Trier when they went up to receive their third place awards.
- This was the first appearance by Auburn. Not only have they not missed the Tournament since; they have not failed to place in the top four.
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