Note: This article was written as of the October 14, 2018 rankings. New rankings in the next few days may make some of the numbers here null.
The following article was a guest contribution by Karsten Rynearson
1 – Hunter A 115.7140152
This team is an absolute monster. While certainly a NAQTeam™, this team still plays very well on a housewrite. Firstly, Daniel Ma is a top 5 history player with deep pockets of knowledge in music, science, and solid real knowledge on lit. His presence has essentially put to bed claims of Hunter losing its dominance over the NY/NJ/CT circuit. Pedro Orduz and Cerulean Ozarow are also super strong history players that thrive on NAQT, especially Pedro, who put up 10 more PPG and 7 more powers while playing with the full lineup at PHSAT. Rachel Yang is a very strong literature player who has a good knowledge base to power her topic. My only concern for this team is their weakness on housewrites. On NAQT, they are a contender for a title come May, but a bit more studying may be in order for a superplayoff slot at PACE. However, they deserve this slot and will continue to be the superpower that they’ve been for the past four years.
7 – High Tech A 102.3541667
This team is very balanced and just so complete as a whole. Michael Li is a top 3 FA player with insane depth, especially on music. Steven Liu is a great science and history player who had some really clutch buzzes. Darren Petrosino was also excellent on literature. However, the biggest surprise for me was the seamlessness of the transition between Doug Simons, a top Northeast history player into Deepak Gopalakrishnan. Deepak was putting up some insane firstlines and will undoubtedly continue to power High Tech after the others graduate. This team is one to look out for at nationals.
11 Ithaca A – 100.2708333
What a complete, complete team. They cover every conceivable base. Isaiah Gutman is an incredible history player and very good generalist who puts up some really nice stats and some really good scienc. Kaelen Imani is an insanely good science player whose computer science knowledge blew my mind. Julian Perry is an incredible literature and visual arts player. Aidan Uckun was a very good geography and lit player as well. This team really has all it needs to succeed on both NAQT and housewrites. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got a top nationals finish.
16 Wilmington Charter A 91.82765152
Two super good players prop up this team. Sohum and Waley have really good control over their specialties, with Sohum being a science and geography beast and Waley being a very strong literature and history player. They clearly collaborate well and have good support from Rishith. This team seems like it will be a very high caliber one for nationals. If I had one concern, a pattern does seem to emerge of them having irrationally close games. Against Hunter B, which went 2-8, they had a 65 point game, and they choked against Greens Farms A (that’s me!) by five points. I still think that as long as they keep playing as well as they should, they’re deserving of their ranking.
17 Troy A 90.3125
Alex Pyle’s 180 PPG at TriState Tussle speaks for itself as a reason why Troy should be highly ranked. He clearly is a super scary generalist with very deep pockets in astronomy and arts, and I’m looking forward to playing his team later in the season. Kemal also provides really nice support as a second scorer. His team did beat Ithaca, which says a lot about their strength. Overall, not having played this team team, there’s not much to say, but I think they’ll be an absolute powerhouse come nationals season.
20 Millburn A 89.01893939
Dean Ah Now is a very strong history player and generalist. His history is particularly deep, and he has some good support from his teammates. I think this team is a strong one and certainly a young one that will perhaps be at the top of the Northeast circuit in a year or two.
26 GNS A 85.10984848
They cover the big 3 very well, with a top 10 lit player in Noah, a very strong history player in Andersen, and a very good science player in Ethan. I’m sure they’ll walk out of nationals with a strong finish and I’m excited to see how they improve over the year.
27 Greens Farms A 84.15137167
Oh wow, my own team! Where do I start? I guess I’ll start with me. I’m trying to build my depth, especially on history and literature. I’m working my hardest on scaling into the HS canon from the MS one. That said, I have a long ways to go. Also, it’s difficult as one teammate (Willem) is busy with college apps and the other two are off in Washington DC on semesters abroad. Negging has also been an issue, as I had 3 negs per game at PHSAT but only 1 at Columbia Fall, so hopefully I’ve learned my lesson about that. That said, I’ve been pretty happy about my results so far and am excited for the future. When GFA gets back together in the spring, expect a solid team.
35 – High Tech B 77.44303834
High Tech B is nearly as good as their A team. They are all solid generalists with specialist level knowledge. Adrian has super nice coverage of the canon overall and is a really solid history player. Ivy is an extremely good lit player, especially on poetry. Cole is a history player with lots of deep knowledge and a good buzzer finger. Eric is a very strong science player as well. This team is quite scary to play, as they can buzz on the whole distribution quite quickly. Their only weakness is negging, as they have had a few 4+ negs in games.
42 Barrington A (RI) 73.35416667
Daniel Sheinberg is a very good player who clearly knows his stuff. When I played him at Yale FAcT, he had really good powers across the canon. He was especially strong on science and history, and with Christina, I anticipate strong finishes all throughout the year. This team is very strong.
Karsten Rynearson is currently a freshman at Green Farms Academy in Green Farms, Connecticut.
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