2019 National Tournament: Cornell University

[TheSquaad]

...so by that logic, the teams that placed ahead of them just happened to get lucky?

Not getting unlucky doesn’t mean you’re lucky. If a battery spontaneously combusts into flames in the middle of a mission possible run, that’s unlucky. Having your batteries working as planned doesn’t make you lucky. It just means that there weren’t unfortunate occurrences that stifled your full potential.

Except that's a double negative, so it does mean that.

It’s possible for a team to have neutral luck, is it not?

[19alekb]

Marie Murphy getting 12th was a big surprise. I didn't expect that. Turns out they were 1 point from 11th place and 6 points from 10th place.

[kate!]

Marie Murphy getting 12th was a big surprise. I didn't expect that. Turns out they were 1 point from 11th place and 6 points from 10th place.

Did you expect to do better or worse? I was honestly surprised that Ladue of all schools beat you guys (and got the Dupont thing) but I guess I underestimated them. It was really close though.

[NSCDS3RdCaptain]

True. However, they still did extremely well. They should have gotten the Corteva Award or 10th if they had had a better day.

[dxu46]

Marie Murphy getting 12th was a big surprise. I didn't expect that. Turns out they were 1 point from 11th place and 6 points from 10th place.

Did you expect to do better or worse? I was honestly surprised that Ladue of all schools beat you guys (and got the Dupont thing) but I guess I underestimated them. It was really close though.

It was basically the first time we (they) had basically no build bombs. In terms of medals and top 10s, this year wasn't especially outstanding, but aside from that, the other events did phenomenal compared to past years.

[pb5754]

For me the most surprising thing is that the difference in division c from 2nd to 14th only 78 points... And pioneer of course

Pioneer was a big shocker... I now feel really bad about all of my posts where I was so sure that they would barely be in the top 20. Guess I shouldn't underestimate teams. On that note, though, I'd just like to say I told you so to everyone that overestimated Acton Boxborough and Boca Raton. I said it over and over again, one invitational does not indicate nationals results, and no one listened. Also, about Lakeshore, I'm very happy they made top 10. I knew they would do well and I was right. However Piedmont and Ladue surprised me. Ladue did really well, 11th is outstanding for them. And Piedmont just kinda... I don't even know what happened. Same for Mounds View. Like I knew they'd both be weaker but I didn't know how much weaker. Also huge congrats/shoutout to Kraemer for getting 6th at their first nationals! That's absolutely amazing and I hope Kraemer continues to do well at competitions.

I would also like to point out that predictions for Boca Raton we're not based not the results of a single invitational. They got second at MIT, second at GGSO, and sixth at SOUP. They showed a lot of potential throughout the year... I guess it just wasn't a good day for them.

[sciolyperson1]

For me the most surprising thing is that the difference in division c from 2nd to 14th only 78 points... And pioneer of course

Pioneer was a big shocker... I now feel really bad about all of my posts where I was so sure that they would barely be in the top 20. Guess I shouldn't underestimate teams. On that note, though, I'd just like to say I told you so to everyone that overestimated Acton Boxborough and Boca Raton. I said it over and over again, one invitational does not indicate nationals results, and no one listened. Also, about Lakeshore, I'm very happy they made top 10. I knew they would do well and I was right. However Piedmont and Ladue surprised me. Ladue did really well, 11th is outstanding for them. And Piedmont just kinda... I don't even know what happened. Same for Mounds View. Like I knew they'd both be weaker but I didn't know how much weaker. Also huge congrats/shoutout to Kraemer for getting 6th at their first nationals! That's absolutely amazing and I hope Kraemer continues to do well at competitions.

I would also like to point out that predictions for Boca Raton we're not based not the results of a single invitational. They got second at MIT, second at GGSO, and sixth at SOUP. They showed a lot of potential throughout the year... I guess it just wasn't a good day for them.

It really wasn't a great day for anyone except Kennedy - winning score for C was 231, and Solon Ms bombed roller as well...

[kate!]

For me the most surprising thing is that the difference in division c from 2nd to 14th only 78 points... And pioneer of course

Pioneer was a big shocker... I now feel really bad about all of my posts where I was so sure that they would barely be in the top 20. Guess I shouldn't underestimate teams. On that note, though, I'd just like to say I told you so to everyone that overestimated Acton Boxborough and Boca Raton. I said it over and over again, one invitational does not indicate nationals results, and no one listened. Also, about Lakeshore, I'm very happy they made top 10. I knew they would do well and I was right. However Piedmont and Ladue surprised me. Ladue did really well, 11th is outstanding for them. And Piedmont just kinda... I don't even know what happened. Same for Mounds View. Like I knew they'd both be weaker but I didn't know how much weaker. Also huge congrats/shoutout to Kraemer for getting 6th at their first nationals! That's absolutely amazing and I hope Kraemer continues to do well at competitions.

I would also like to point out that predictions for Boca Raton we're not based not the results of a single invitational. They got second at MIT, second at GGSO, and sixth at SOUP. They showed a lot of potential throughout the year... I guess it just wasn't a good day for them.

I mean, there weren't as many competitive schools as usual at GGSO, and at SOUP they were beaten by every competitive school except LASA, and even though they beat Harriton/WWPS/N, those schools were not at their full potential. I think Boca still did have a bad day because they could have done better than 21st given their invitational results, but people were putting them in the high 10th-15th and even top 10, which I don't think would have happened.

[Alex-RCHS]

I do think Boca Raton was overrated, but Acton-Boxborough was less than 30 points from 5th. They were rated just fine, but happened to get unlucky.

...so by that logic, the teams that placed ahead of them just happened to get lucky?

ABRHS was unlucky that the distribution of teams in 2019 resulted in a higher than normal number of teams being slightly better than them. In other years, they would have placed much higher with the same effort.

[drcubbin]

Congratulations to all the friends our teams made this year and hope they will last for years to come! You are all champions!! Planning to join you in Raleigh, NC 2020! You guys (and girls!) rock! Dr. C @ The Bay Academy