New York 2018

[NeilMehta]

Since trial events do not count towards teams' scores at regionals or states, should teams just not prepare for them? (referring more to Parasitology than Duct Tape Challenge)

IMO, it could be helpful in the future if the event is used as a full event

[whythelongface]

Since trial events do not count towards teams' scores at regionals or states, should teams just not prepare for them? (referring more to Parasitology than Duct Tape Challenge)

In my state, where they do impact the score, we generally have alternates do the trial events. I don't know whether NY allows alternates, but if they do, it doesn't hurt to have more people gain experience competing, when they normally wouldn't have the chance to do so. If alternates are not allowed, then I see no point in preparing for the trial events.

[raxu]

Here's how my school/region is doing it.

At regionals, the preparation of trial events doesn't impact which school team you are on. If you think it's a lot of fun (go Quiz Bowl!), then you can prepare and compete! The region puts the events on a lunch block so there is little conflict

At states, we reserve the trial events for alternates. This way everyone have fun!

[SPP SciO]

Since trial events do not count towards teams' scores at regionals or states, should teams just not prepare for them? (referring more to Parasitology than Duct Tape Challenge)

Referring to NYC B only - At regionals, the only trial events offered will be Quiz Bowl & Duct Tape Challenge. The first part of QB conflicts with other events, so students with time to spare will enter that (game time decision!). The DTC is at the very end, not conflicting with other events (besides QB finals) so on our team, it'll be assigned at coaches' discretion - maybe someone really wants to do it, or someone has a very light schedule, or had a terrible morning and needs something to look forward to.

Providing we qualify for the state tournament, the trial events will be for the alternates we bring along. I don't even plan on introducing parasitology until after the regional tournament, and it will be a useful way to differentiate between hard-working students who competed on the "B" team at regionals and all want to come to states.

[JasperKota]

Providing we qualify for the state tournament, the trial events will be for the alternates we bring along. I don't even plan on introducing parasitology until after the regional tournament, and it will be a useful way to differentiate between hard-working students who competed on the "B" team at regionals and all want to come to states.

Will alternates be allowed to compete at state trial events, since only one team is allowed (assuming your team is a full 15 members)?

[SPP SciO]

Providing we qualify for the state tournament, the trial events will be for the alternates we bring along. I don't even plan on introducing parasitology until after the regional tournament, and it will be a useful way to differentiate between hard-working students who competed on the "B" team at regionals and all want to come to states.

Will alternates be allowed to compete at state trial events, since only one team is allowed (assuming your team is a full 15 members)?

Yes they will: http://www.newyorkscioly.org/wp-content ... -09-09.pdf (specifically 1-b)

[Unome]

Fayetteville-Manlius invitational results:

1. Syosset (109)
2. Brighton (188)
3. Abington Heights (202)
4. Syosset (238)
5. Cicero-North Syracuse (241)
6. Syosset (243)
7. North Pocono (274)
8. Camden (299)
9. North Pocono (309)
10. Chittenango (317)
Full Scores

Syosset looks fairly strong. I don't know the scene well enough to say anything more.

Erie/Niagara (looks like an invitational for those teams in that region):

1. St. Joe's (171)
2. St. Joe's (176)
3. Williamsville East (191)
4. Nichols (215)
5. Williamsville East (221)
6. Lancaster (266)
7. Kenmore West (292)
8. Williamsville East (295)
9. Lockport (299)
10. Nichols (302)
Full Scores

St. Joe's looks unusually strong; otherwise, scores seem fairly typical.

[EastStroudsburg13]

Fayetteville-Manlius invitational results:

1. Syosset (109)
2. Brighton (188)
3. Abington Heights (202)
4. Syosset (238)
5. Cicero-North Syracuse (241)
6. Syosset (243)
7. North Pocono (274)
8. Camden (299)
9. North Pocono (309)
10. Chittenango (317)
Full Scores

Syosset looks fairly strong. I don't know the scene well enough to say anything more.

NEPA race should be fun again; don't think either Abington Heights or North Pocono will be challenging the upper tier of PA barring big improvements, but both look like they'll probably be contenders for the back end of the top 10 again.

[syo_astro]

Fayetteville-Manlius invitational results:

1. Syosset (109)
2. Brighton (188)
3. Abington Heights (202)
4. Syosset (238)
5. Cicero-North Syracuse (241)
6. Syosset (243)
7. North Pocono (274)
8. Camden (299)
9. North Pocono (309)
10. Chittenango (317)
Full Scores

Syosset looks fairly strong. I don't know the scene well enough to say anything more.

Hm, interesting, I was curious when FM results would come out. Unless I forget, the big contenders for 1st other than Syo there would maybe be Brighton / Abington Heights (not saying other teams aren't a challenge at all, they are especially at individual events). But I don't think they've gotten THAT good in the past few years (at least noting that Syo usually does comparatively well when stacked for invites), even with Syo's recent crop being bad (not as in everyone's bad...just not enough good people for some reason) / various leadership issues recently. Note, I don't think this has been said, but Syo's team-coach dynamic has totally changed recently, so it's hard to say what'll happen this year with them.

Likely Islip would've been a better comparison, even with the logistical issues. I would say this shows Syo CAN get top 10 at least. But looking at the events, unless they seriously improve or are deciding to restack teams a little (which sometimes happens only for a few events), then it's quite hard to say. They'll also be going to MIT, among way too many invites, so I'll wait to judge further after that. One thing I do notice is that the B and C teams are very close, and this makes sense knowing some of the younger siblings I've personally heard about from friends that are pretty good on each of the teams, which is unusual (Syo B normally has a batch of close contenders for A spots, instead of B and C being virtually neck and neck -- possibly a result of the tryout / coaching differences?).

Edit: One other interesting thing is that FM didn't note 1st in a few events (obviously I am always aware of checking astro placements!). If not a typo, me suspects this is them placing themselves? Would be interesting to see how they compare to Syo at this stage...

Edit2: From quickly adding, there's some interesting results! Their golds were astro, ecology, optics, and remote (no surprises, these are events that FM is typically very good at), while their worst were hovercraft (15th), widi (11th), and 7th (game on). Overall, I found a score of 77 ignoring the 4 builds, so assuming each build is ~6th, then that gets them up to 101. On the other hand, I suspect most of their builds are probably fine / great, so this is where a lot of the speculation can come in (I personally think they probably got sub-100 for sure in any case). Syo definitely is strong, just not as strong as FM right now (though, things like Fermi, Herpetology, Rocks, etc can be improved pretty readily).

This and Islip provides some interesting potential rankings for States. Probably FM, Ward, Columbia still at the top. What'll be interesting is to see how GNS, Spackenkill, Mount Academy, Syo compare (well, it's bad to leave Townsend Harris / Kellenberg out based on Islip logistics...they could also get in there too). I think NOW I can wait on some of the other invites.

[Yackback]

Mid-State Regional Results:

1. Fayetteville-Manlius Team A (40)
2. Jamesville-Dewitt Team A (99)
3. Cicero-North Syracuse Green (114)
4. Camden Team A (157)
5. Chittenango Team A (161)

Top 5 qualify for states

FM scored 9 more than last year, although it could have only been the (most likely) tier 2 in towers.