Florida 2019

[Killboe]

Now that we have MIT results:

Florida State Tournament Predicitions - Div C
1.) Boca Raton Community High School - After an absolutely stellar performance at MIT, I feel very comfortable with this ranking. It is obvious that have improved drastically and this very well may be the best team Boca has ever seen. I am very excited to follow their performance throughout the rest of the season.
2.) Archimedean Upper Conservatory - Certainly had very strong performances in a few events. I dont think Archimedean got any weaker than last year - they might have even gotten better; I think Boca just got way stronger.
3.) Cardinal Gibbons - Not quite as certain how this will play out. I think they are a very strong team and its possible that they will beat Archimedean for 2nd. I think the FAU regionals will be helpful in gauging where everyone stands.

Agreed

[Unome]

Based on MIT, I think Boca Raton can make it to 6th-8th at Nationals if they do very well. If they don't do quite as well, something like 12th-14th is more likely. I expect a score in the 9th-10th range though.

[jaah5211]

Congratulations to Boca Team 1 for placing 2nd overall at MIT! It should be noted that Boca High improved 19 places from last year's ranking from 21st to 2nd, a 329 point improvement

Here's a link to the full results:
https://app.avogadro.ws/invitational/mit-c/

I'm quite late, but congratulations Boca Raton!

It was amazing on how well you guys did at MIT !!!

[will926ok3645]

There is no doubt that Boca did incredibly well at MIT, and it is fair to say that they are a frontrunner to reclaim the state championship, but there are still many things to consider when discussing Regionals and State championships, as well as placement at Nats:

1. Regional and State Championships almost never have quality tests. The test for Forensics at FAU Regionals was the same two years in a row and did not follow the rules (for example, camel and rabbit hair were options on the list, and at least one of those was a correct choice). With a new director, FAU Regionals may not be the same quality as before, but from what I've heard he is working very hard to ensure the competition will be high quality, and he is aware of the forensics situation. The same goes for States, as test quality is not on par with that of MIT or, to a much lesser extent, Northview. Archimedian is still a very strong team and will not go down without a fight.

2. SOUP is coming up in a little over a month, and top schools like Troy and Mason will be attending, alongside Boca. I feel an accurate assessment of how good Boca is against top competition will be found after the UPenn scores are revealed. With regionals the following week, Boca will have to make sure that its builds are good three weeks in a row (GGSO, UPenn, Regionals), which may strain their performance at the latter competition. A top-2 finish at GGSO would also cement Boca in the conversation for their highest placing ever at Nats.

Looking toward the future, it is not hard to see that Boca will continue to be strong. Albeit against weaker competition than 2018, their Team B placed around the same spot points wise as their Team A did last year. They also beat Archimedian A by more than 50 points and OSS by nearly 100, and even got two events to medal, plus medal in a trial; not to mention beating other solid teams like Mentor. It will be interesting to see if Archimedian A is in a race for first versus Boca A or a race for second against Boca B and OSS. There is an extremely legitimate chance that Boca can claim both first and second in the state once again. The season is a long way from over, and all teams have areas to improve. It comes down to whichever team takes control of their events and has the drive- whether it be knowing Boca was one place away from first or Archimedian and OSS having faith that they can beat both Boca teams- and each other- to qualify for nationals.

And we haven't even discussed Archimedian B (despite their incredibly poor showing at MIT) and Cardinal Gibbons. This year will be fun.

[BocaBuilder18]

2. SOUP is coming up in a little over a month, and top schools like Troy and Mason will be attending, alongside Boca. I feel an accurate assessment of how good Boca is against top competition will be found after the UPenn scores are revealed. With regionals the following week, Boca will have to make sure that its builds are good three weeks in a row (GGSO, UPenn, Regionals), which may strain their performance at the latter competition.

I can give some context to this point, in relation to Balsa events, and why I don't think this will be as big of a deal this year:
Last year, Boca High Team 1 didn't have two balsa builders on Team 1 till the first week of February, a few months after Team 1 was made, but our performance and pace improved greatly (even when we had Princeton, Regionals, and Cornell three weeks in a row), when we added a second balsa builder. This year, Boca has had 2 balsa builders on the team since the team was formed. They are extremely talented and able to work at a fast pace, so I actually expect their build quality to stay consistent, and improve significantly as the year goes on, regardless of the challenge and intensity of the team's schedule.

They also beat Archimedian A by more than 50 points and OSS by nearly 100, and even got two events to medal, plus medal in a trial; not to mention beating other solid teams like Mentor. It will be interesting to see if Archimedian A is in a race for first versus Boca A or a race for second against Boca B and OSS. There is an extremely legitimate chance that Boca can claim both first and second in the state once again. The season is a long way from over, and all teams have areas to improve. It comes down to whichever team takes control of their events and has the drive- whether it be knowing Boca was one place away from first or Archimedean and OSS having faith that they can beat both Boca teams- and each other- to qualify for nationals. And we haven't even discussed Archimedian B (despite their incredibly poor showing at MIT) and Cardinal Gibbons. This year will be fun.

I agree completely that Boca has a great opportunity to win back States, but I would note that Boca's Team 1 beat Archimedean A by 113 points at MIT last year, and Archimedean still beat us easily at States later on that season. In regards to your strong word choice about Archimedean B's "incredibly poor" showing at MIT, I would remind you that the same team beat our Team 1 in several events at States last year, which ended up being a significant factor in our Team 1 getting 2nd place, along with Cardinal Gibbons's exceptional performance in several study events that outplaced Boca High.

[jaggie34]

Good luck to everyone competing in their regional competitions tomorrow!

[Killboe]

Good luck to everyone competing in their regional competitions tomorrow!

What regional are you going to? Our school is going to compete in the UF regional.

[jaggie34]

I'm competing at the FAU regional, not UF, but I will be at UF for the competition.

[jaah5211]

Good luck everyone!

[jaggie34]

Results from UF regionals:

Div B
1. River City - Rockets
2. Oak Hall - Burgandy
3. River City - Rocketeers

Div C
1. Rickards - Chewy
2. Rickards - Droids
3. River City