2003 IHSA State Championship Tournament
The 2003 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Championship Tournaments ended the seventeenth State Championship Series conducted in Scholastic Bowl by the IHSA. It was the twelfth season in which there were separate State Championship Tournaments held for small schools (Class A) and large schools (Class AA). For the seventh year, both tournaments were held at the Peoria Civic Center on Saturday, March 22nd.
The tournament was managed by John Rathbun, and equipment furnished by Buzzersystems.com.
Advancement
There was another change to the terms of advancement for teams through the State Series. 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. Starting this year, only the winners of the regionals would advance to their respective sectional tournaments. However, the sectional tournaments wer changed to allow for a round robin tournament, instead of the single elimination. The determination of the geographic boundaries of the Sectional was arbitrarily decided by the IHSA Office.
This change was prompted to prevent more than the regional champions from advancing (which was not done in other team competitions. As a compromise to avoid returning to the "long travel and only one match to play", the IHSA extended the round robin format being used at the State Championship Tournament to the sectional tournaments.
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 third year, the questions were written by a group of retired coaches and person from other states. Tom Egan served his third and final year as chief editor, before moving on to become the head coach at Maine South.
CLASS A
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| State Champion: | ||||
| Runner-Up: | ||||
| Third Place | ||||
| Fourth Place | ||||
POOL #1
Carlinville swept through their pool with a 3-0 record. Gibault, [[Mt.Carmel], & PORTA were all tied with 1-2 records,. with Gibault advancing to the third place game based on total points (360, 355, 332). It was the closest tiebreaker since pool play had been instituted.
| Round | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlinville | 156 | Mt. Carmel | 94 |
| Gibault | 126 | PORTA | 95 | |
| 2 | Carlinville | 268 | PORTA | 124 |
| Mt. Carmel | 172 | Gibault | 120 | |
| 3 | Carlinville | 133 | Gibault | 114 |
| PORTA | 113 | Mt. Carmel | 89 |
POOL #2
Stillman Valley advanced with a 3-0 record in the pool. Dunlap, The Latin School, & University were all tied with 1-2 records. The Latin School advanced on total points (425, 482, 400).
| Round | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stillman Valley | 181 | University | 60 |
| Dunlap | 204 | Latin School | 162 | |
| 2 | Stillman Valley | 194 | Dunlap | 184 |
| Latin School | 191 | University | 157 | |
| 3 | Stillman Valley | 136 | Latin School | 129 |
| University | 183 | Dunlap | 37 |
Third Place
| Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latin School | 165 | Gibault | 60 |
Finals
| Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stillman Valley | 172 | Carlinville | 142 |
CLASS AA
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| State Champion: | ||||
| Runner-Up: | ||||
| Third Place | ||||
| Fourth Place | ||||
POOL #1
Wheaton North swept the pool to advance to the Championship Match. New Trier went 2-1 and advance to play for third place.
| Round | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mahomet-Seymour | 180 | Stevenson | 179 |
| Wheaton North | 217 | New Trier | 162 | |
| 2 | New Trier | 263 | Mahomet-Seymour | 124 |
| Wheaton North | 348 | Stevenson | 166 | |
| 3 | Wheaton North | 321 | Mahomet-Seymour | 78 |
| New Trier | 225 | Stevenson | 145 |
POOL #2
Auburn swept the pool to advance to the Championship Match. Lyons went 2-1 and advance to play for third place.
| Round | Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auburn | 165 | Lincoln-Way East | 149 |
| Lyons | 211 | Sacred Heart-Griffin | 96 | |
| 2 | Auburn | 270 | Sacred Heart-Griffin | 179 |
| Lyons | 268 | Lincoln-Way East | 186 | |
| 3 | Auburn | 246 | Lyons | 157 |
| Lincoln-Way East | 188 | Sacred Heart-Griffin | 115 |
Third Place
| Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Trier | 192 | Lyons | 130 |
Finals
| Winning Team | Score | Losing Team | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wheaton North | 248 | Auburn | 135 |
Notes
- Stillman Valley, the odds on favorite, completed their quest for a championship behind the excellent play of Kelly Tourdot.
- This was the second of what would be Wheaton North's three consecutive IHSA state titles.
- The Class AA Tournament would be mired in a rare controversy. Mahomet-Seymour was embroiled in a protest with the IHSSBCA when one of their players was left off of Team Illinois. The player and coach had gone so far as to involve their principal, and attempt to involve the IHSA. In the end, the IHSA chose not to get involved. After several posts on the internet berating several coaches, the team had its day at the finals, and did not perform well enough to place.
- This was also the tournament in which Fenwick qualified, but was denied advancement by the sectional host when it made up rules in what is now known as The Screwup on Western. As a result, Lyons' placing in this tournament is not universally recognized.
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