30 October 2018
Cambrea Hall
The upcoming National Academic Quiz Tournament is seeking trivia buffs for this year’s event.
The National Academic Quiz Tournament will take place on Nov. 3 is a competitive event on campus that invites all students to participate.
“The competition is a team based tournament. The first four to six rounds are called ‘round robin.’ Each registered team will compete against other teams at least once. From there, teams will accumulate points and wins,” said Stephen Cucchiara, director of the event, via email.
According to Cucchiara, the top six teams with the highest amount of points after the round robin portion of the tournament will advance to the playoffs. The No. 1 and No. 2 place team receive a first round bye while teams ranked No. 3 to No. 6 will play one another in the quarter finals. Then, the winners of the quarter finals will go on to play the No. 1 and No. 2 place teams in the semi-finals. The winners in the semi-finals will compete and go on to the finals.
“Questions vary in topic from sports, pop-culture, literature, math, science, history, music, psychology, etc.” Cucchaira said. “Each time a team answers a toss-up correctly, they are given a bonus question. For every toss up and bonus question answered, a specific amount of points are awarded to the team.”
The winning team will have their team and individual name placed on a longevity plaque in the University Center, along with the opportunity to compete against colleges from Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona and Idaho at the Sectionals tournament.
“Moreover, all teams and individuals that participate in the UCCS tournament will receive a participation token. This year, all students who participate will receive a winter beanie,” Cucchaira said.
Arielle Cassiday and Josef Friesen competed on the same team in the 2016 National Academic Quiz Tournament and won.
Cassiday’s team also won the following year. For Cassiday, the tournament was an opportunity to meet new people and try something new.
“Competing in the tournament is fantastic. It’s the perfect combination of challenging, engaging, and just fun,” Cassiday said. “If you are a competitive person, it’s great because you get the instant gratification every time your team correctly answers and gets a point. If you are like me and are not competitive, you will just have a ton of fun.”
Friesen participated the last two years in the National Academic Quiz Tournament.
“In 2016 and 2017, both my teams went to Sectionals. We placed 2nd last year in UCCS’ tournament. Sectionals is a bit more intense and more formal than the one UCCS hosts, but it’s still a lot of fun,” Friesen said.
At the time of print, the tournament had about three teams signed up and still need three more to be able to host the tournament.
To register for the tournament, students must log into Mountain Lion Connect, visit the Student Life Portal and click on the registration link. Students can register as a team, if they have multiple individuals who want to compete together, or sign-up independently to be assigned a team.
The National Academic Quiz Tournament will take place on Nov. 3 at approximately 12:30 p.m. in the University Center.