Region 8 Congratulations and Thanks

coverdude · Mon, 19 Feb 2001 13:24:30 -0800

Though Anthony DeJesus already mentioned the
brief Region 8 CBI results -- and I don't have a lot
more information in hand than he did -- I wanted to
add my congratulations to the University of Chicago
for reclaiming the R8 title after a year absence. It
shows that adding a fourth player (compared to last
year) can really make a difference, especially when one
of them is Jeffrey Bennett. Jeffrey, the two Peters
(Onyisi and Steffen) and Amanda (and Sigmund, of course)
played a great tournament, going through the full round
robin undefeated (11-0) and clearing the field by two
games. It must have been tough to have to play a
straight best 2-of-3 final after that domination, but they
were great sports all day and provided a very exciting
and hotly-contested final. The three matches were (to
the best of my recollection):

1. UW-Madison
255, Chicago 180
 Chicago led early, but Madison
pulled ahead enough in the second half to get the
win.

2. Chicago 295, UW-Madison 135 (or maybe 165; one or
the other)
 Madison shot itself in the foot with
three negs on the first four questions, racing to a -15
hole before finally getting on the plus side. Chicago
amassed a good lead in that stretch. Madison came back
early in the second half to within 130-110, but U of C
pulled away after that.

3. Chicago 295,
UW-Madison 250
 Chicago grabbed a sizeable lead in the
first half and the first part of the second half
(something like 250-110), and held off a furious Madison
comeback, featuring several bageled bonuses near the end.
When Jeffrey pulled out Bolshoi Ballet on a fine early
buzz, with about ten seconds left and Chicago up
285-250, it sealed the deal.

Finishing 3rd was
Illinois-Chicago, with a 9-2 record, led by Rom in his last year of
CBI competition, capping a strong Region 8 career
which saw him lead UIC to a second-place finish in 1997
and an NCT wildcard bid. Northwestern (the only team
besides Chicago to defeat UW-Madison in the round robin)
finished a strong fourth.

The tournament was run
very professionally and according to the well-known
rules of previous tournaments. Wisconsin Lutheran was a
very good host, with gracious staff, and moderators
and scorekeepers were, by and large, very experienced
and knowledgable. Except for the best 2-of-3 finals
rule, which throws out round-robin performance, I
(speaking for myself) really have very little but good
things to say about my last CBI Regional
Tournament.

Good luck to Chicago at Nationals, and (as Madison
team member Adam would say) have fun!

Steve