On Saturday, February 5, teams from all around the northeast gathered for New Jersey’s first tournament of 2022: High Tech’s QuBit VIII. Though it was run on a hard (“regs+”) set in, the competitors rose to the challenge. Lots of close games happened throughout the day, and it concluded with a thrilling final where Hunter A beat Ridgewood 330-315.
Ridgewood - 2nd
Ridgewood (21.23 PPB) finished second to Hunter A, showing their ability to “scale up” in putting up high stats and wins at a harder level. Aiden Dartley (131.5 PPG) picked up right where he left off last season, finishing as the top scorer in history, literature, fine arts, and overall. But at this level, Aiden’s teammates also stepped up to help him, as Alex Khalitov scored 10 PPG, and the rest of Ridgewood got a couple buzzes apiece. This level of support enabled Ridgewood to beat tough teams, such as Hunter B, Manheim, and Belmont.
“Anto-Neg and Cleopatra” - 8th
Robert Wang (59 PPG) showed again that, despite being a freshman, he can help “Anto-Neg” (18.52 PPB) compete against top-level teams. Robert, as a history-based generalist, had plenty of support, with science player Jeffrey Xu (28.12 PPG) averaging just under a power a game, and literature player Sophia Wu’s 105 points, all in literature. With this core, “Anto-Neg” was able to make it out of a tough prelim bracket, beating Edison A, as well as a shorthanded JP Stevens.
JP Stevens - 9th
Schedule conflicts meant that QuBit’s JP Stevens (18.50 PPB) was constantly rotating, but they performed well despite many interruptions. Science player Kushal Aluru (60.62 PPG) led a balanced team where all five members were able to score over 12.5 PPG, including history player Nishanth Bhargava (45 PPG), and Sophia Pan (26.5 PPG), who led the field in classical music points. When JP Stevens played full, they were able to beat teams like Edison and Darien on their way to winning the top consolation bracket.
Edison - 11th (A), 21st (B)
Edison A (18.2 PPB) finished in 11th after beating a very good Choate team in their elimination bracket’s final. Generalist Yash Mandavia (51 PPG) and science player Ali Ahmed (24.5 PPG) lead a balanced team where each player was able to contribute with a couple buzzes over the course of the day. Impressively, Edison A were able to start incredibly strongly, beating a Hunter B team that finished third overall.
Edison B (13.28 PPB), for a less experienced team, was still able to average a power per game. Edison’s depth is demonstrative of the amount of work that the team has put into outreach and improvement, and over the course of this year, they will definitely continue to improve.
WWP North - 13th
WWP North (16.10 PPB) played very well on the day, beating teams like East Brunswick and Wilmington charter, as well as taking Edison A within five points. They were very balanced, with every single person on their five-person roster playing 8 games and scoring over 10 PPG. Like many teams, WWP North hasn’t played much before today, but continuing to play during the spring will undoubtedly show how this team will do on all sorts of difficulties.
Biotech - 17th
In Biotech’s (15.19 PPB) first tournament of the 21-22 season, they showed plenty of promise. Paced by Srivatsa Mutukula (61.5 PPG), who averaged over 2 powers per game, Biotech finished at the top of the bottom consolation bracket, defeating East Brunswick. With lots of in-person quizbowl in the next two months, we hope that we could continue to see this team’s performances get better and better.
East Brunswick - 18th
East Brunswick (16.06 PPB) played very short handed today, with players like Lillian and Saketh choosing instead to spend their day staffing. Tanuj Chandekar (91.5 PPG) played very well, finishing as the third overall scorer, while Simon Emmanuel (20 PPG) provided solid support to Tanuj. With both being primarily history players, East Brunswick was missing the broad coverage that enabled them to achieve high team finishes at previous tournaments in the year, especially because tech issues limited Amitav Narayan’s involvement. Stil, the power numbers that this team achieved (29, the same as 8th placed “Anto-Neg and Cleopatra) should indicate the strength of Tanuj and Simon on hard levels.
Middlesex County Academy - 20th (A), 22nd (C), 23rd (B)
Middlesex County Academy sent three teams to QuBit, the most of any team in the field. This depth will be useful, as many of the younger players will use this valuable experience in driving their improvement. In particular, freshman Thomas Catuosco of MCA A was able to get 43 PPG; as he continues to get adjusted to high school difficulty, both he and MCA will become much more dangerous teams.
Out of State Teams
Many non-New Jersey teams did well at QuBit VIII. The traditional Hunter A split into two teams, one of which (competing as Hunter A) won the tournament, and the other of which (Hunter B) finished third. Great Valley from Pennsylvania finished fourth while leading the field in total powers (66) and points per bonus (22.88 PPB).
We’d like to thank all the staffers, as well as tournament director Kevin Liu, for helping make this tournament a success and a fun time for New Jersey teams. This tournament was immaculately well-run, with a final finish time BEFORE the projected finish time.