Toughest Regions

[dxu46]

Whatever regions are out there, none will beat SEPA C.

[gz839918]

What about New York, having the highest registration of any state? I'd imagine NY regionals would be especially tough. The NYC regional, for instance, has 70 teams in Division C, and of the teams that can attend the New York state tournament, the lowest qualifier isn't even top 10 in the region (they only go to states because there are multiple teams from top schools like Stuy and Brooklyn Tech which take the spots for top 10). Perhaps somebody with more knowledge about New York than I have could chime in here.

[Galahad]

San Diego Regionals. Bois got ~120 teams there per div i think and around 2000 student competitors

[syo_astro]

What about New York, having the highest registration of any state? I'd imagine NY regionals would be especially tough. The NYC regional, for instance, has 70 teams in Division C, and of the teams that can attend the New York state tournament, the lowest qualifier isn't even top 10 in the region (they only go to states because there are multiple teams from top schools like Stuy and Brooklyn Tech which take the spots for top 10). Perhaps somebody with more knowledge about New York than I have could chime in here.

I have to echo what Unome already said. Most NYS regionals are decently balanced with one or two absolutely dominating teams (excluding the less competitive...or more just less organized regions...tbh, I can't imagine many other than Southern Tier), a few others that are pretty good and might even switch off often enough, and then the rest that are usually able to do pretty well and even crush a few events (but not enough people/resources to make states).

Side rant: You don't even have to look to NYC. If anything, I'd argue in the past Western Long Island (WLI) was more competitive than most regions in the state (barring NYC, I haven't really seen them). WLI used to have GNS, Syosset, Kellenberg, Chaminade, Hicksville (they are still pretty good but had some very good members I knew when I was around), and Division Ave. I don't have the numbers, I can find them if you want, but they must've had at least 70 - 80 teams there because of many schools being able to bring multiple teams (and just pretty high registration overall).

Anyway, eventually they split the region. I'd say NYS is a very competitive state overall, but I don't see it as having any particular region with the strongest teams. One last thing: I don't believe Brooklyn Tech took a top 10 spot in 2018...Townsend Harris would be a better example to point out along with Stuy. I'd have to check numbers, though, to be sure, but this is just what I know going off my (biased) memory.

[Name]

What about New York, having the highest registration of any state? I'd imagine NY regionals would be especially tough. The NYC regional, for instance, has 70 teams in Division C, and of the teams that can attend the New York state tournament, the lowest qualifier isn't even top 10 in the region (they only go to states because there are multiple teams from top schools like Stuy and Brooklyn Tech which take the spots for top 10). Perhaps somebody with more knowledge about New York than I have could chime in here.

I have to echo what Unome already said. Most NYS regionals are decently balanced with one or two absolutely dominating teams (excluding the less competitive...or more just less organized regions...tbh, I can't imagine many other than Southern Tier), a few others that are pretty good and might even switch off often enough, and then the rest that are usually able to do pretty well and even crush a few events (but not enough people/resources to make states).

Side rant: You don't even have to look to NYC. If anything, I'd argue in the past Western Long Island (WLI) was more competitive than most regions in the state (barring NYC, I haven't really seen them). WLI used to have GNS, Syosset, Kellenberg, Chaminade, Hicksville (they are still pretty good but had some very good members I knew when I was around), and Division Ave. I don't have the numbers, I can find them if you want, but they must've had at least 70 - 80 teams there because of many schools being able to bring multiple teams (and just pretty high registration overall).

Anyway, eventually they split the region. I'd say NYS is a very competitive state overall, but I don't see it as having any particular region with the strongest teams. One last thing: I don't believe Brooklyn Tech took a top 10 spot in 2018...Townsend Harris would be a better example to point out along with Stuy. I'd have to check numbers, though, to be sure, but this is just what I know going off my (biased) memory.

The top 3 teams are all in realitively weak regionals they can dominate easily. Ward won win a 31 score, Columbia with 33, and FM with 40.
I'm pretty sure NYC is the only regionals with 3 teams in the top 10 this year, so it's very balanced.
West Nassau is still quite competitive with GNS Kellenburg and Chaminade all in the top 10 or close. East Nassau regionals is much less competitive now, but Jericho got sorta close to us at regionals, and a few other good teams (although they generally fall off at states)
NYC though is by far the most competitive- Stuy, Townsend Harris and Staten Island Tech all in top 10. Btech and Hunter College were still top 20, and Collegiate at 23rd (while also beating Btech and Hunter at regionals). Although from what I've heard NYC is splitting next year like how WLI got split.

[PM2017]

San Diego Regionals. Bois got ~120 teams there per div i think and around 2000 student competitors

Yeah, but they get to take a maximum of six teams per school. So, from what I've heard, the actual competitive field is much smaller.

[Galahad]

San Diego Regionals. Bois got ~120 teams there per div i think and around 2000 student competitors

Yeah, but they get to take a maximum of six teams per school. So, from what I've heard, the actual competitive field is much smaller.

But 60 schools

[PioBoy]

Michigan, probably Region 12 in B on the basis of competitiveness and size (since Meads Mill's region (6 or 8, can't remember) is pretty small).

Honestly, I don't think region 12 is that competitive anymore relative to 6 and 9. I mean, in terms of size it definitely takes the cake (region 9 has like what, 10 teams?), but the teams that make it to states from 6 and 9 have fared better than teams from 12 in the past few years.

As far as Meads Mil's region (region 8), it isn't that small, but it's generally just them and Hillside that do very well at states.

Since when have Michigan Regionals been competitive? I’m under the impression that most schools take qualifying for states as granted. I’m from Michigan region 9, and we automatically assume we are going to states, the teams that go are all pretty much known. It’s our state competition that’s hella competitive. Troy(Michigan) Grand Haven Northville Pioneer are all pretty competitive in Div C at states. Their respective feeder schools in Div B are similarly competitive.
Random personal opinion, but Michigan is getting a lot weaker, especially Div B.


Sorry for the tangent

[linzhiyan]

I honestly think that Missouri Region 6 is competitive for Div C...
Ladue is basically guaranteed to go, along with John Burroughs, but then the next two slots are very close and sometimes teams may miss it by a couple points.

[EastStroudsburg13]

As the discussion starts getting into teams that miss states, I think the definition of "toughest" region depends somewhat on how many teams qualify. In past years, Southeast C Division had a dominant top 5 teams, but with 7 or 8 teams qualifying for states, you could go to states without being at that level (this may be changing somewhat with Penncrest and Conestoga falling out of the state top 5, Garnet Valley moving into the state top 10, and North Penn and Shipley finishing no worse than 13th).

But considering this, I think it's tough to beat Northern California's Santa Clara County Regional. Due to the way NorCal distributes regional bids, each regional gets 4 bids, regardless of regional size. This year, the four teams to qualify from B Division were Kennedy, Miller, BASIS Silicon Valley, and Chaboya, which finished 1st, 3rd, 6th, and 5th at states, respectively, and the teams to qualify from C were Mountain View, Palo Alto, Monta Vista, and Milpitas, which finished 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 7th at states. Greene, which finished 13 points behind Chaboya, and Lynbrook, which finished 14 points behind Milpitas, in all likelihood would have finished in the top 10 at states, but did not even qualify. It's my belief that these two teams are the best teams in either division in the country to not make states this year because of this.

It's possible that NorCal updates their bid distribution policy in the future, but until that happens, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a region with a higher bar of qualification than this one.