Team Illinois 2001

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Team Illinois earned fame but no fortune by making it to the Semi Final matches here in Florida. We finished 4th in our Semi Final room with 167 points behind Florida (228 points), Washington DC (210 points), and Michigan (207 points) and ahead of Alabama (137 points) and Massachusetts (113 points).

It was one of the lowest scoring Championship matches in at least five years, with several teams buzzing early to try to win, but losing points with wrong answers. (For example, for the match Maryland answered 10 questions right and 7 questions wrong). Washington DC was in 4th place (out of the 6 finalist teams) after the 5-point and 10-point rounds, but their patience paid off in the 15-point round as they nailed questions 42, 43, and 55 to cruise into first place. It was a stunning win for the All-Star team from Benjamin Banneker Academic High School and Georgetown Day High School, finishing with 183 points. Florida was second with 157 points; Maryland third with 147 points; Vermont fourth with 144 points; Kentucky fifth with 143 points; and Alabama sixth with 118 points.

Points to ponder:

- Illinois' 167 points in their Semi Final match was one point ahead of North Carolina's 166 points (in a different Semi Final match) -- North Carolina had defeated Illinois by one point in the opening match on Sunday.

- Three of the teams Illinois practiced with made it to the Finals -- Maryland, Washington DC, and Vermont. It was the first time in 14 years that a team from New England made it to the Finals.

- The two teams that came out of the Semi Final match in which Illinois played (Washington DC and Florida) finished #1 and #2 overall.

After an impressive and fun-filled banquet at which every team received certificates of participation, capped off by a multimedia show of slides and sounds from the tournament, the Big Surprise was revealed: The entire group was taken by bus to MGM Studios Theme Park and ushered into the "Millionnaire" game show attraction for an hour-long show. Every member of the audience participated in every question using buttons on the seat back in front of them; the best times are tracked (by seat number) and the Top Person got into the Hot Seat. Kids from Montana, Kentucky, and a few other states, as well as one of the three (!) Maryland coaches got their chance during the hour. The contestants won Disney Pins and prizes donated by Panasonic. At the end of the hour, the top ten audience particpants, of which Coach Grierson was #5, won Panasonic Stereo Radio Cassette Players (the equivalent of a Sony Walkman).

Wednesday morning we'll take a van/taxi to the airport and await our various planes back home. It's been a great trip for everyone.

Coach Grierson