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Helias Tournament

Tournament announcements, results, and discussion about specific tournaments.
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ryan
Posts: 89
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 12:00 am
Location: ozark

Helias Tournament

Post by ryan »

I was wondering if anyone here knows who actually won as we left before I could find out.

Anyway if anyone is curious the results as I know.

1/2. Rockbridge or Richland
3. Ozark
4. West Jr. High

Quarterfinalist: FZW, Helias, Salem, and Elsberry
Other Playoff teams:Mexico. Rockbridge B, Richland B, and New Bloomfield

richbob
Posts: 171
Joined: Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:00 am

Helias Tournament

Post by richbob »

I was told that Rockbridge won by one question. One of Rockbridge's juniors has taken a number of math classes at the University of Missouri. He is very, very talented. In a side note, Richland was missing one of its starters (Logan Goad).

I read the third place game and Ozark won on the last question against West Junior High. Two of the kids on West Junior High School were extremely impressive. They will be attending Columbia Hickman next year which is a shame because Hickman doesn't field a team. If they did, I believe they could be a real power in class 4A. One of the players (named Amadeus) could differentiate trigonometric functions. I was very impressed. Their captain (Adam) had a wide range of knowledge and was very fast on the buzzer. I believe the final third place game score was Ozark 310 and West 290 (with Ozark getting the last tossup question and all four bonus questions).

Since I moderated in every round, I did get to see some other teams across the state. I was impressed with Elsberry's all-girl team. Their captain Dusti was fast and accurate in mathematics and science. Glasgow's team captain played very well. In class 3A, Ozark continues to show improvement. They have one of the most balanced teams that I have seen this year. They should make it to state and place in the top four.

My congratulations to Shelley Swoyer and the Helias school personnel. This tournament was run very well. The timers and scorekeepers who I worked with were very well-trained and personable. There were some very good teams there, such as Fort Zumwalt West, Helias, Rockbridge, Glasgow, West, Elsberry, and Ozark. I am sure that many of them will make waves in the state tournament.

In a side note, the questions were provided by Questions Galore.

AShoaib
Posts: 559
Joined: Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:00 am

Helias Tournament

Post by AShoaib »

One of the players (named Amadeus) could differentiate trigonometric functions.
Not too difficult really, and in my mind, nothing to gaze in awe over.
tan(x)->sec^2(x)
cot(x)->-csc^2(x)
cos(x)->-sin(x)
sin(x)->cos(x)
csc(x)->-csc(x)cot(x)
sec(x)->sec(x)tan(x)

It's just that this isn't a topic of QB in standard sets.










:(

johnboy81918
Posts: 394
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:00 am

Helias Tournament

Post by johnboy81918 »

Even though I agree with you that it's nothing special, it also wasn't necessary to bother putting the six of them on here. Most, if not all, of the people that post here will know them. Or, at the very least, many of them do.

We had a few at St. Joe Christian yesterday, but I agree that it's not really a standard quiz bowl topic. We also had a few definite and indefinite integrals, and some other decent math questions. They were all easily able to be done in 15 seconds though, so even though it was nice to have the topics COVERED, I'd like to see a little push in difficulty










:)

FZW Coach
Posts: 874
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 12:00 am

Helias Tournament

Post by FZW Coach »

Just for the record, Amadaeus is impressive! He scored 7/8 on the target test and 112 (120 is the top score if you answer all 25 correct; Jason Wu (Ladue) last year scored 116 as a senior) on the Sprint test at the GPML math competition in December. If you know anything about GPML math competitions, those are very impressive results for anyone! And that was accomplished by a freshman! We did not get to see them in scholar quiz, but they did score pretty well.


We purchased some practice questions (2005) and found them very easy. The real questions were ok. They are written to be very quick with no setup. Most of the math questions require little real math knowledge. Some of them do, but many of them worked with the same concept over and over and over again. If you know how to differentiate e^x (which we did, though did not answer the way it was written on the paper . . . and were not successful convincing non-math people of the equality of the statements) and knew how to quickly figure out a cube, you could make it just by guessing 0 or 1 on most of the others. In fact, someone on our second team did just that with one of the derivatives. I told them that all the answers were easy and they write the questions to get an obvious answer like that.

Ozark was good. They defeated us 310 - 260 in the playoffs. They had lost earlier to West Jr. High and apparently were able to get them in the playoffs. I expect to see them at state.

We had a nice set up in the playoffs in that we had a chance to play Ozark and then potentially Rockbridge, which should end up being our 2nd and 3rd opponents at state (if we make it that far). However, we did not deliver.

It will be nice when we actually have more than 2 of our top players. We had 2 along with Julia (our super sophomore), but should have a more rounded team in the next two weeks (Rolla, Gateway Athletic Conference). We do have some serious polishing to do, however, if we want to make it back to state for the 3rd consecutive year.

As far as individuals, 3 tied for 1st. A student from Rockbridge, student from Salem, and a student from Richland. They all had 37. Teri (FZW) had 34. I find it a bit interesting that it was set up that winners played winners. It probably provided the best competition we could get, but it probably helped the student from Salem and Rockbridge (at least slightly) in that they played teams who had already lost. It is fine, though.

Teri had 13 against Ozark, which was not enough since she was the only one scoring significently for us in that game.

That game: Teri 13, Danielle 3, Julia 1
Ozark - Andrew 9, Ryan 8, Alex 2, William 1


We got burned on an integral because Danielle did not say units squared. That is kind of stupid. Apparently they decided to make a big deal of that encouraging teams that they will count them wrong at districts and state if they do not include the units. That sounds good in theory, but it is not correct. Avery does not write questions like that. If you look at his questions, he does not underline the units. He includes that as part of the question and only underlines the numerical answer.


Overall, we are happy we went over there for that competition. This year, more than any other year, I chose tournaments to see as many of the potential Class 4 state teams as possible. In the past, we have stayed mostly in the St. Louis area.

STPickrell
Posts: 433
Joined: Thu Mar 16, 2006 12:00 am
Location: Vienna, VA
Contact:

Helias Tournament

Post by STPickrell »

AShoaib wrote: Not too difficult really, and in my mind, nothing to gaze in awe over.
How many junior high students can do that, though?

FZW Coach
Posts: 874
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 12:00 am

Helias Tournament

Post by FZW Coach »

After 3 rounds:


1. Rockbridge A 3 - 0 1105 pts defeated: Owensville B, Salem B, Fulton B
2. Richland A 3 - 0 885 pts defeated: Fulton B, Salem A, Rockbridge B
3. West Jr. High 3 - 0 880 pts defeated: Owensville A, Glasgow, Ozark (240 - 225)
4. FZW A 3 - 0 805 pts defeated: Marshal A, Helias, Hancock A

5. Ozark 2 - 1 715 pts
6. Helias 2 - 1 625 pts defeated: Smithton (185 - 135), FZW B
7. Mexico A 2 - 1 580 pts
8. Salem A 2 - 1 575 pts
9. Rockbridge B 2 - 1 560 pts
10. Elsberry 2 - 1 400 pts
11. New Bloomfield 400 pts
12. Richland B 390 pts


Top 4 had byes in 1st round of playoffs.

richbob
Posts: 171
Joined: Wed Jan 10, 2007 12:00 am

Helias Tournament

Post by richbob »

The problems that Amadeus did where much more difficult than that. They were like: Cos squared X sin squared X + ..... + ...... +......
They inlcuded exponential functions and sin cubed, etc.

They were not the simple ones you listed on your email.

With a fifteen second time limit, they were very difficult. I don't think you realized
the level of these problems. This was the first tournament that I have seen problems of that length and difficulty.

Amadeus could start for any high school team in this state.

FZW Coach
Posts: 874
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 12:00 am

Helias Tournament

Post by FZW Coach »

richbob wrote: The problems that Amadeus did where much more difficult than that. They were like: Cos squared X sin squared X + ..... + ...... +......
They inlcuded exponential functions and sin cubed, etc.

They were not the simple ones you listed on your email.

With a fifteen second time limit, they were very difficult. I don't think you realized
the level of these problems. This was the first tournament that I have seen problems of that length and difficulty.

Amadeus could start for any high school team in this state.
I would have to agree with that.


However, if you noticed, those questions all became either: cos x + sin x, 1, or was a basic trigonometric identity that you would know from precaluclus.


It is certainly impressive what he did!

RiseAgainst
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2007 12:00 am

Helias Tournament

Post by RiseAgainst »

Not to discredit him, but everyone realizes that West (despite being a junior high) is nothing less than a college prep school. The opportunities available at West are pretty crazy...

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