Chess team sets school record - Joliet Herald News

PLAINFIELD -- The Plainfield South High School cheat squad made school and territory history at the Prairie State High School Association state cheat squad championships.

The squad won five lucifers and lost two and finished 18th out of 118 squads in the two-day tournament to post its best screening ever at state. This was the 5th twelvemonth that South have qualified for state. Last year, the squad earned its best record to that point, going 4-3 to complete 28th statewide.

"To travel 5-2 at the state tourney is very difficult, and a first for us," cheat baseball club advisor Joe Vladika said.

"To the best of my knowledge, this is the first competitory cheat squad in the history of the school district, and the first 1 to vie at the state level," he said.

Plainfield North and Central both have got cheat teams, but neither have yet gone to state, Vladika said.

Plainfield South High School senior Uncle Tom Neil Armstrong also placed 5th in the state among the "Fifth Board" participants and sophomore Flatness Doherty placed 10th in the state among "Seventh Board" players. Neil Armstrong and Doherty both received decorations and had their photographs taken with Yuri Shulman, a expansive maestro and top-rated chess participant in Illinois.

Chess participants are assigned for competition based on their degree of skill. "First Board" participants are considered the best on their team, and so on. The state tourney matched eight "Boards," or participants of eight degrees of skill.

The IHSA cheat title is a seven unit of ammunition nonelimination tournament. Teams are matched with oppositions based on their public presentation and record during the regular season.

Going into the state tournament, PSHS had a record of 16-5 and was seeded 25th in the state.

Teams are awarded points for a win on each Board. A win on Board One gains 12 points, 11 points travel to Board Two, all the manner to five points for Board Eight. The sum figure of points at the end of the lucifer finds the winning team.

"My participants met my outlooks perfectly," Vladika said. "They rose to the extremely high degree of competition and pressure level at the state tournament."

The cheat squad finished their season with a squad record of 21-7, their best ever. Their end was to complete higher than they were seeded, hopefully in the top 20 squads in the state, Vladika said.

"This season I knew our squad would be exceptional." Vladika said. "I started the cheat programme at South when the school opened in 2001. It took respective old age to construct up a squad of dedicated, experienced players, but this twelvemonth it all paid off," he said.