The 2024 Illinois High School Association (IHSA) State Championship Tournaments ended the thirty-eighth State Championship Series conducted in Scholastic Bowl by the IHSA. It was the thirty-third season in which there were separate State Championship Tournaments held for small schools (Class A) and large schools (Class AA). This was the third year both tournaments were held at Heartland Community College in Normal, Illinois. The tournaments were held Saturday, March 16th.
This state series was the seventh to be written under the guidance of head question editor Brad Fischer.
The tournament was hosted by Elmwood with equipment furnished by Buzzersystems.com.
Advancement
Teams were assigned to one of eight sectionals within each class. Coaches then seeded the top 8 teams in their sectional. The IHSA then assigned the seeded teams to one of four regionals (1 with 8, 2 with 7, etc), with the remainder of the teams assigned to a regional geographically. The winners of the regionals would advance to their respective sectional tournaments, where they would play a three match round robin to determine a winner. The determination of the geographic boundaries of the Sectional was arbitrarily decided by the IHSA Office. Regional tournaments were held on Monday, March 4th, and Sectional tournaments were held on Saturday, March 9th.
Tournament Format
Each round was comprised of 24 toss-ups and accompanying bonus questions.
In the State Championship Tournament, teams were randomly assigned to pools of four, and played a three match round robin. The winners of each pool advanced to the Championship Match, and the runners-up in each pool advanced to play for third place. Ties were broken by head-to-head results or total points scored among tied teams (in the event of a three-way tie).
The top four teams earned trophies and medals for team members, coaches, principals, and activities directors.
CLASS A
POOL #1
Winnebago swept their pool going 3-0. Pleasant Plains went 2-1 to advance to the 3rd place match.
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Pleasant Plains |
340 |
Cumberland |
150
|
|
Winnebago |
340 |
El Paso-Gridley |
50
|
| 2 |
Winnebago |
290 |
Cumberland |
170
|
|
Pleasant Plains |
270 |
El Paso-Gridley |
130
|
| 3 |
Cumberland |
150 |
El Paso-Gridley |
90
|
|
Winnebago |
230 |
Pleasant Plains |
220
|
POOL #2
Metro-East Lutheran swept their pool going 3-0. Johnston City went 2-1 to advance to the 3rd place match.
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Johnston City |
370 |
Bloomington Central Catholic |
220
|
|
Metro-East Lutheran |
400 |
Lisle |
300
|
| 2 |
Metro-East Lutheran |
320 |
Bloomington Central Catholic |
220
|
|
Johnston City |
330 |
Lisle |
260
|
| 3 |
Lisle |
470 |
Bloomington Central Catholic |
220
|
|
Metro-East Lutheran |
390 |
Johnston City |
240
|
Third Place
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Johnston City |
350 |
Pleasant Plains |
150
|
Finals
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Metro-East Lutheran |
300 |
Winnebago |
200
|
CLASS AA
POOL #1
Waubonsie Valley swept their pool going 3-0. Carbondale went 2-1 to advance to the 3rd place match.
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Rockford Auburn |
390 |
Macomb |
210
|
|
Waubonsie Valley |
400 |
Carbondale |
340
|
| 2 |
Waubonsie Valley |
540 |
Macomb |
140
|
|
Carbondale |
400 |
Auburn |
250
|
| 3 |
Carbondale |
400 |
Macomb |
160
|
|
Waubonsie Valley |
370 |
Auburn |
290
|
POOL #2
Buffalo Grove swept their pool going 3-0. Uni-Lab went 2-1 to advance to the 3rd place game.
| Round |
Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| 1 |
Uni-Lab |
390 |
Homewood-Flossmoor |
320
|
|
Buffalo Grove |
440 |
Walter Payton |
370
|
| 2 |
Uni-Lab |
570 |
Walter Payton |
190
|
|
Buffalo Grove |
730 |
Homewood-Flossmoor |
130
|
| 3 |
Buffalo Grove |
480 |
Uni-Lab |
370
|
|
Walter Payton |
410 |
Homewood-Flossmoor |
190
|
Third Place
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Uni-Lab |
530 |
Carbondale |
130
|
Finals
| Winning Team |
Score |
Losing Team |
Score
|
| Buffalo Grove |
460 |
Waubonsie Valley |
370
|
Notes
- The 2024 IHSA Tournament saw several State Finals debuts including El Paso-Gridley, Bloomington Central Catholic, Waubonsie Valley, & Walter Payton. In the case of Payton - the first representative from the Chicago Public League to advance to state.
- While this was Auburn's record 21st consecutive trip to the finals, this is the first IHSA Tournament since 2001 not to feature Auburn in the top-4.
- This is the first IHSA Tournament since 2008 to crown two new State champions for both classes in the same year.
- Metro-East Lutheran are the first southern Illinois IHSA State champions in either class since Litchfield (2014-1A).