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It is the ultimate quizzing experience -- a four-quiz International A Side Finals. It is a sign of three evenly-matched teams, with almost every jump won by a fraction of a syllable, and the quiz often comes down to differences that can only be recognized as the will of God -- one team gets a perfect two-syllable jump and gets the key word that makes it an easy answer, while another team gets the same jump and has six possible answers to choose from, but chooses the right answer, while yet another team gets the same jump and chooses the wrong answer from the possibilities. One team's specialist finds themselves unable to jump on every question in their category because of tossups and bonuses, while another team's specialist finds their toughest competitors taken out of the running by an error against their team. At this level, acknowledging the sovereignty of God over the events of our lives is simply recognizing the obvious.

In this quiz, that sovereignty quickly became apparent. Aaron MacPherson started the quiz by taking a situation question. On question 2, Dallas took a perfect two-syllable jump on a straightforward question, only to choose the wrong possible answer. Joe of WPA 2 took the tossup on an MA question. On question 4, Aaron took an error on a CR, once more choosing the wrong possible answer. An error by Joanna on a straightforward question resulted in a bonus to Heather, and CMD 1 once more had the lead in the quiz. However, the next question illustrated the clear sovereignty of God at work. John of WPA 2 jumped on "According to Acts chapter 18 verse " and proceeded to choose the correct verse, answer, and question. I think in our heart of hearts, many of us knew at that moment the course this quiz would take. Heather took an error on the next straightforward question, followed by Dallas taking an error on a situation question, leaving a missed MA bonus to Joanna. Question 11 saw Heather take a straightforward question, bringing CMD 1 to within 10 points of WPA 2, while question 12 saw Aaron get CMD 2's first points of the quiz with a quote question on Acts 1:8. However, the rest of the quiz belonged to WPA 2. Joanna got a one-syllable straightforward question on a key word for question 13, earning WPA 2 a third-person bonus. On question 14, John took an FTV on "But s" and got it right for WPA 2, and on question 15, Joanna got "Who cons" as a straightforward and got it right. God's blessing was clear, and WPA 2 now had a 50 point lead after 15 questions. On question 16, Aaron MacPherson took a second situation question to pull CMD 1 to within 30, but on question 17 Joe took an MA question by jumping on "perf", and Joanna sealed the win by getting a straightforward question on question 18, giving WPA 2 an unbeatable 70 point lead with two questions to go. The last two questions were final performances for CMD veterans, with Josh taking a perfect straightforward jump to get question 19 for CMD 2 and Deborah taking question 20 on a CR to earn CMD 1 a third-person bonus.

Final score
CMD 2 50
CMD 1 130
WPA 2 170

Deborah's final question turned out to have further significance. In a four-quiz final, second and third place are decided by the total points scored in the final. After adding it up, CMD 1 and CMD 2 were tied at 360 points. The next tiebreaker is prior head-to-head quizzes - CMD 1 won the head-to-head in the quiz D semi-final, but CMD 2 had won the preliminary head-to-head. The next tiebreaker is average points in the A side playoff quizzes leading up to the final, and this finally determined the placement of CMD 1 and CMD 2. CMD 1 had an average of 145 points per quiz in their two playoff quizzes, while CMD 2 had an average of 136.7 points per quiz in their three playoff quizzes.

Final placements
1. WPA 2
2. CMD 1
3. CMD 2

This quiz started with an error by WPA 2's Jeff on an FTV, followed by a straightforward question going to Dallas on the tossup, but then WPA 2 began to run away with the quiz. Question 3 was an MA question taken by Joe, question 4 a straightforward question taken by Joanna, and question 5 a CR question also taken by Joanna, giving WPA a 40 point lead after question 5. Jeff took a second error on a situation question on 6, and Heather won the straightforward tossup for CMD 1. Dallas took an error on a straightforward question 8, Aaron followed with an error on a situation on the tossup, leaving question 10 as a missed bonus on a quote to WPA 2's Joe. Question 11 was Joanna's on a straightforward question, question 12 was an error to Deborah on a CVR question, question 13 was an error to WPA 2's John on an FTV question, and Josh took the bonus on a straightforward question, leaving the score CMD 2 60, CMD 1 40, WPA 2 80. Keri took an error on an MA on question 15, and Joanna quizzed out without error on the tossup, a straightforward question.

Question 17 saw Aaron Haight take an error on a CR question, and Deborah took a CVR question on the tossup. Keri recovered momentum for CMD 2 with an MA question on question 18, leaving her team 40 points back of WPA 2 with 2 questions to go and third-person bonuses still a possibility. However, after Heather took an error on a straightforward question 19, Sam's attempt to take another straightforward question on the tossup resulted in another error. While 19B was yet another quote bonus missed by WPA 2's Joe, the lost points were enough to clinch the quiz for WPA 2. To seal their win, John took his second question on a question 20 Finish This.

Final Score
CMD 2 60
CMD 1 50
WPA 2 130

A three-team horse race with a nose-over-the-wire finish!

Aaron Haight took an error on a CVR on question 1, with Joe (WPA 2) taking a straight error on question 2 and Ashley taking the bonus on an F2V on question 3. Joanna (WPA 2) took her first straightforward question on 4, with Keri taking an MA on 5. Aaron MacPherson took a situation on 6, with Joanna taking her second straightforward on question 7. After an error by Heather on a straightforward on question 8, Aaron took a quote (Quote Acts 10 verse twenty...) correctly guessing it to be 28 and tying the quiz at 60 after question 9. He then followed up with an MA CVR on question 10, followed by Joanna's third question, an MA on question 11. With two MAs gone, CMD 1 called a timeout to sub Sam in for Keri, but after discussing it as a team, decided to leave Keri in and sub in Sam for Aaron. Dallas then took a straightforward question on question 12, earning CMD 1 its third-person bonus and giving them a 30 point lead over WPA 2. Question 13 was a second error for Heather on a straightforward, dropping CMD 1 to 50. On the tossup, Joanna quizzed out without error for WPA 2 on a straightforward question, tying the quiz between CMD 2 and WPA 2, with both having a 60 point lead over CMD 1. A second third place finish would eliminate CMD 1 from the finals, so it was critical that they get back into the quiz.

Question 15 was an error on an FTV to Joe from WPA 2, followed by an error to Dallas on a straightforward, giving a 20-point bonus to Heather on 16A. This was followed immediately by a CR question for Deborah, winning the jump over Aaron Haight, who had reentered the question on a timeout after the bonus. This left the score at CMD 2 110, CMD 1 90, WPA 2 100 after question 17. Question 18 was another SIT, which was taken by Aaron MacPherson for CMD 1, tying the score with CMD 1. On question 19, John from WPA 2 took a straightforward question, and the score was CMD 2 110, CMD 1 110, and WPA 2 120 heading into question 20. Question 20 was called as an MA question, leaving Keri from CMD 2 jumping against Ashley from CMD 1 and Joe from WPA 2 for the win. Ashley took the jump, answered the question, and with her third-person bonus, sealed the win for CMD 1.

Final Score
CMD 2 110
CMD 1 140
WPA 2 80

Quiz 1 started badly for CMD 1, with Deborah taking an error on a quote on question 1 and Aaron erring on a situation after running out of time for the clarification on question 3, with Heather's challenge being overturned. Dallas started things for CMD 2 with a straightforward on the tossup, Deborah took a CVR on 5 to even things up, and John from WPA 2 took a straight on 6 to take the lead, adding to Joanna's straightforward on question 2. Keri took an MA on 7, and Dallas took a second straight on 9 following an FTV error to John from WPA 2. Errors on a situation to Aaron MacPherson and a straightforward for Joanna led to a bonus on a CR for Dallas, resulting in a 70 point lead for CMD 2 after question 12 over WPA2, with CMD1 another 30 points back. Errors to WPA 2's Joanna on an MA and CMD 1's Heather on a straight gave Dallas another bonus on an FTV. Following Joanna erring out on 16, Josh took a third-person bonus for CMD 2 on a straightforward 16A, sealing the win for CMD 2.

Final score
CMD 2 140
CMD 1 40
WPA 2 80

The CMD teams are now milling about in the foyer singing national anthems while waiting to be introduced onto the stage. The laptop is set up in the foyer so that the results of each quiz can be blogged during the breaks. Stay tuned for news from the first quiz!

The last semi-final, Quiz I, has finished. Western Canada and Eastern Canada were joined in this quiz by Western PA 2, the winners of Quiz H, the final quiz for second and third-place teams. Western PA was led in this quiz by a hot Joanna Daigle. With a 30 point lead over Western Canada 1 going into question 19, Joanna took the question to quiz out, and the entire stage erupted into a group hug, prompting the quizmaster to ask plaintively "Did somebody call a timeout that I didn't hear?" Western PA's coach then immediately called a timeout to allow the celebration to conclude. On question 20, Josh Loeppky, formerly of CMD and now with Western Canada's team, was sent by his coaches to take his final jump at Internationals. With two previous errors on MAs in the quiz, Josh got the jump on a straightforward question. He was forced to repeat through the material a couple of times, but finally corrected his mistake and was called correct, and a final celebration erupted on stage.

The stage is now set for tonight's A Side Finals at 7:30 local time (6:30 Saskatchewan time):

Finals
CMD 1
CMD 2
Western PA 2

Look for further updates tonight!

CMD 2
Western Canada
Eastern Canada

After Eastern Canada pulled off an upset victory over Western PA and Great Lakes in Quiz F, they joined the rematch between CMD 2 and Western Canada in the second semi-final quiz. Western Canada got off to a great start, with Denae beating Dallas to take the first situation question and Kristina adding a straightforward question on question 3. Keri beat out Josh Loeppky of Western Canada to take an MA for question 4. The next question featured high drama, as Aaron won a CR question. With two possible questions and answers both in context, he quoted the first one and began quoting the second one, but was called wrong by the quizmaster. After a challenge, the question was thrown out and replaced with another CR question, which was won by Adrienna from Western Canada, earning Western Canada a third-person bonus and a 50 point lead, which was increased to 70 points when Denae took a straightforward for her second question on question 6. Question 7 saw Keri take a second MA question from Josh Loeppky, narrowing Western Canada's lead to 50 points again. However, on a toss-up with Josh Loeppky, Keri took an error on a fast jump on the third MA question of the quiz, giving a 20 point bonus to Adrienna of Western Canada, thereby increasing their lead to 70 points after question 10. At this point, with three MA questions gone in the quiz, Sam came in for Keri. On a toss-up with Western Canada for question 12, Dallas took his first question of the quiz, a straightforward, and followed this up with a situation question on question 15, narrowing Western Canada's lead to 30 points after question 15. Question 16 saw both Western Canada's Kristina and CMD's Sam take errors, giving Eastern Canada a 20 point bonus to sit at 50 points, behind CMD's 100 and Western Canada's 130. Question 17 featured more drama with Aaron, as yet another question, this one an MA CR, was thrown out because of a quizmaster mistake. However, this time Aaron took the replacement MA CR, earning CMD 2 a third-person bonus and tying the score between CMD and Western Canada. On question 18, Kristina from Western Canada took an error on a fast straightforward jump, and with Eastern Canada taking another error on 18A, Sam picked up a 10 point bonus on a MA CVR question 18B, giving CMD their first lead of the quiz, at 140 to Western Canada's 120. Question 19 saw Adrienna of Western Canada take an error on a straightforward. With Eastern Canada taking the tossup on 19A, Western Canada called a timeout with question 20 coming and CMD 2 leading Western Canada 1 by 30 points. With two quizzers who had not yet got a question, Western Canada's only hope to tie the quiz was a fourth-person bonus from one of them. With Josh Loeppky one of the two quizzers, CMD subbed Keri back in for Sam, although the coaches did not expect another MA question after 3 MAs and 2 MA reference questions. However, question 20 came up as another MA question. With everyone knowing it would be a battle between Josh Loeppky and Keri for the question, Josh prejumped aggressively and got 'Who s' as his question. He was unable to get the right question, and after an error by Eastern Canada on 20A, Keri sealed the win for CMD 2 with a bonus on 20B.

Final scores:
CMD 2 150
Western Canada 1 100
Eastern Canada 50

CMD 2 now advances to join CMD 1 in the first-ever Internationals final between two teams from the same district. Both teams will be cheering on their former teammate Josh Loeppky as his Western Canada team enters their third and final semi-final.

Quiz C (10:30 am, room 1)

Western PA 1 90
CMD 1 150
Western PA 2 110

Deborah started the quiz off with an MA CVR question, with Aaron following up with a situation question on question 5 and a bonus CVR on question 10. Heather took an error on question 10 on a tough straightforward question before adding the team's third-person bonus with another straightforward question on 13. Aaron added a second situation question on 14, putting the team ahead of Western PA 2 by 40. A twenty-point bonus situation question to Heather on 16A put the team 60 points ahead of Western PA 2, and the team was able to watch as Western PA 1 made a strong rally in the last questions of the quiz, taking 3 of the last four questions to tie for second with Western PA 2 going into question 20, which was won by Western PA 2 to clinch second place over Western PA 1.

Quiz D (11:30 am, room 1)

CMD 2 80 (overtime)
Western Canada 1 70 (overtime)
CMD 1 140

This quiz started roughly for CMD 2, with an error for Aaron Haight on question 1 on a CVR and another error for Dallas on question 4, while CMD 1 got off to a good start with a straightforward question from Heather on question 2 and an MA bonus for Heather on question 5. Question 6 saw Deborah take an error on a CR question, resulting in a Q2 bonus which Dallas was unable to get on question 7. Aaron MacPherson added a situation question for CMD 1 on question 9 and a straightforward question on question 13, while Aaron Haight got another error on a CVR question 12. Dallas got CMD 2's first points of the quiz on question 15, leaving CMD 2 70 points behind CMD 1 and 40 points behind Western Canada with 5 questions left. An error to Heather and another to Western Canada led to a twenty-point bonus for Dallas on 16B, but Aaron MacPherson took another situation question on question 17, giving CMD 1 a 50 point lead in the quiz and a 70 point lead over CMD 2. Keri added an MA question for CMD 2 on 18, giving the team a 50 point deficit. With the only hope for CMD 2 and Western Canada being to earn third-person bonuses, both teams were flying on question 19, with Kristina erring out from Western Canada on 19 and Josh taking an error on 19B, giving Aaron a bonus and sealing the win for CMD 1. An error for Western Canada on 20 left CMD 2 ahead, but a communication mistake left Aaron taking an error on a question he though Josh had jumped on, and erring out to send the quiz into overtime. A third-person bonus for Sam on 21 on a quote was matched by a third-person bonus for Western Canada on 22, but an error by Josh Loeppky for Western Canada on 23 sealed second place for CMD 2. CMD 2 is looking forward to meeting Western Canada again in quiz G, and CMD 1 is looking forward to meeting both of them again in the finals!

CMD 1 170
Eastern Canada 100
Metro 10

CMD 1 had a great quiz, with Keri leading the way with 2 MA questions, and the team earning third-person, fourth-person, and fifth-person bonuses, with Josh earning the fifth-person bonus on question 20A on a straightforward question. The team now has three chances to earn a berth in the final, beginning with quiz D.

Quiz 25-1 (9:30 am, Room 1)
Mid-Atlantic 40
CMD 2 90
Western PA 2 140

As an act of faith in God, CMD 2 decided to shake up our starting order by giving Sam, who had started as spare in all our previous quizzes, a chance to start the quiz, with our top quizzer, Dallas, starting the quiz as spare. The quiz started well for CMD 2, with a bonus to Keri on question 3, and a MA question for Keri on question 8, leaving the team tied with Western PA 2 at 60. At this point, Dallas came in replacing Aaron, who had an error and was watching the other teams jumping aggressively on his category. The team had a bit of trouble in the mid-quiz, getting errors from Sam and Dallas on questions 2 and 14, leaving the team down by 50 after question 16. The team then chased Western PA 2, but split 17 through 20 evenly with Western PA 2, with CMD 2 taking a straightforward question from Dallas on 17 and a third-person bonus from Aaron on 20A on another straightforward questin, but Western PA 2 countered with a question and a fourth-person bonus. CMD 2 heartily congratulated Western PA 2 on a very well-earned victory.

Quiz 25-3 (9:30 am, Room 3)
CMD 1 90
Northeastern 50
Southwestern 30

As the score suggests, this quiz was very error-prone. Northeastern took an early lead by getting the first two questions, but errors then resulted in a bonus to Heather on question 5, and another bonus to Ashley on question 8, tying the quiz. Aaron added the teams's first jumped points on a situation question 8, but an error to Heather on a straightforward question and a toss-up quote question by Northeastern tied the quiz once more. Deborah broke the tie once again with a CVR on question 12. After a missed bonus by Heather on 15, Deborah added another CR question on question 16 before taking an error on a CVR question 17A. Further errors on straightforward question followed as Heather (19) and Jordan (20A) both tried to add third-person bonuses for the team.

Quiz 28-3 (11:00 am, room 3)
Metropolitan 90
Southeastern 10
CMD 2 130

This quiz tested CMD 2's faith further. With Aaron starting out to allow Sam another opportunity to be a starter, the first 5 questions featured an MA CVR and a Q2 question, both of which were taken by Tim Huang from Metro, who also took an FT question, giving his team a sixty point lead over the other two teams. Errors then resulted in a bonus to Josh on question 7, followed by an error to Sam on a CVR question with a tricky question formation on question 8. With Aaron in for Sam, an FTV question 11 was taken by Josh, pulling the team with 20 points, but the next successful question did not come until Keri took an MA question on question 16. A tense finish then resulted as CMD 2 and Metro fought it out for the win. A second straightforward error for Dallas on 17 was matched by an error to Metro on 17A, leaving both teams tied at 70. On question 18, Tim Huang beat Aaron on a quote, quizzing out without error and leaving his team 30 points ahead with two questions to go. On question 19, Aaron earned a third-person bonus for CMD 2 by taking a CR question, once more tying the score. On the timeout before the tie-breaking question 20, coaches for both teams urged their quizzers to fly on straightforward questions, believing that a "good" straightforward question was due. Tim Lau from Metro won the jump, only to learn that all the coaches had it wrong, as he was stuck with "Who " as his question. On 20A, Dallas added CMD 2's fourth-person bonus on a SIT question, and the team praised God for his goodness in honoring their faith.

Quiz 29-4 (11:30 am, room 4)
Mid-Atlantic 40
CMD 1 120
Western Canada 1 140

After two errors and a missed bonus to Mid-Atlantic, Deborah got the points started with a CR question on quesiton 4. Aaron added a situation question on question 8, leaving the team 20 points back of Western Canada 1. A second error to Ashley on an MA question and a bonus to Deborah on question 16 left this point spread unchanged. Western Canada then earned a third-quizzer bonus with an MA question by former CMD quizzer Josh Loeppky on 17 and added another question on question 18, putting them up by 70. CMD 1 matched these two questions with a third-person bonus to Heather on a straightforward question 19 and another CR question for Deborah on question 20, but this still left them 20 points back of Western Canada 1.

Final Preliminary Round Standings

Rank Team Prelim Score
1 Canadian Midwest 2 178
2 Western Canada 1 164
3 Western PA 1 139
4 Canadian Midwest 1 138
5 Central 135
6 Eastern Canada 130
7 Metropolitan 124
8 Western PA 2 118
9 Western Canada 2 116
10 Great Lakes 1 114
11 Great Lakes 2 104
12 South Atlantic 104
13 Ohio Valley 102
14 Northeastern 95
15 Pacific Northwest 95
16 Central Canada 1 94
17 Northwestern 92
18 Southeastern 83
19 Western Great Lakes 61
20 Mid-Atlantic 55
21 Southwestern 50
22 Midwest 30
23 Central Canada 2 27

Both CMD teams are grateful to God for their success. CMD 1 is particularly pleased with their amazing recovery from being 19th after the first day of prelims to their 4th place finish, while CMD 2 heartily enjoyed seeing the faith become sight, as the team had trusted God with the results and had abstained from checking the standings until the final quizzes were done, an experience the coaches found both exhilirating and nerve-wracking.
Both teams enjoyed visiting Chicago's Navy Pier for a few hours, and are now anticipating tomorrow's playoff round quizzes:

Quiz A (9:30 am, room 1)
CMD 2
Eastern Canada
Metropolitan

Quiz C (10:30 am, room 1)
Western PA 1
CMD 1
Western PA 2

After supper on Wednesday, following a frustrating and discouraging day, the Haights graciously lent their red bomb van to CMD 1. The coaches took the girls to the Yorktown mall for a quick shopping trip while the boys played football. As the van arrived back on campus, the girls found the boys playing football in a vicious thunderstorm that left them all drenched to the bone! It was amazing to see a lake form instantly in the parking lot by the Billy Graham Center where we spent the day quizzing. The evening served as a nice break and allowed CMD 1 to release our frustrations. We were then able to refocus on the next day and trust God to provide strength and control that we would need to quiz.

CMD 1 spent considerable time in prayer as a team, praising God for our failures and our successes. We asked God to allow us to work together as a team and experience success that would bring glory to Him. CMD 1 ended Day 2 praising God for allowing us to win 4 out of 5 quizzes, as well as an overtime that resulted in a strong 2nd place. CMD 1 looks forward with great anticipation for tomorrow's final two preliminary quizzes.

God has been very good to us!

Quiz 18-2 (Room 2, 1:00 pm)
Northwestern 110
CMD 1 110
Pacific Northwest 30

This quiz was highlighted by Aaron getting a third-person bonus on a situation question on question 15, following earlier questions by Deborah and Heather. Ashley added on a fourth-person bonus on a MA question on question 17, tying the quiz with Northwestern. After an error by Heather on a tough straightforward question, Jordan came in for Ashley to try for the fifth-person bonus, but question 19 was taken by PNW, leaving CMD 1 down by 20 on question 20. Deborah took the question on a CVR to tie up the quiz and send it to overtime. However, Northwestern took the first two overtime questions to clinch first place for the quiz. Still, it was an exciting and encouraging quiz for CMD 1.

Quiz 18-3 (Room 3, 1:00 pm)

Eastern Canada 10
CMD 2 150
Great Lakes 2 30

This quiz had some interesting twists and turns for CMD 2. Dallas started strong with two questions by question 5, while Aaron got question 4. Then things started to stall, as the other teams stepped up the pace of the jumping. After Keri took an error on the second MA of the quiz, Sam came in to try to take some reference questions. Somewhat to everyone's surprise, he was able to take the MA question that came up 5 questions later while Keri was still out, earning CMD 2 a third-person bonus. After that, CMD 2 practiced a lot of "competitive sitting", as the other two teams kept jumping faster and taking errors trying to earn a solid second. The team took three bonuses in the last four questions, with Dallas getting an error on question 19A while trying to get his last question to quiz out without error and earn the team another bonus.


Quiz 20-1 (Room 1, 2:00 pm)
CMD 2 100
Central 130
Western Great Lakes 10

This was another tough quiz for CMD 2. Shea and Bryan had fun before the quiz joining the Central spectators in chanting "Let's go, Central", thereby confusing them mightily. The quiz started with some aggressive jumping, with questions 1,2, and 4 going for errors before the first successful jump went to Aaron on question 5--an MA CVR to go with Aaron's earlier error on the question 1 quote. Aaron added another CR question on question 12, while Keri took an MA on question 13, but after this, the team was forced to practice more competitive sitting, finding the team unable to make up ground on the lead built up by Central, which had taken questions 6 through 10. With question 18 coming, CMD 2's timeout goal was 30 more points to give the team a second-place score of 100, which the team hoped to accomplish through a third-person bonus from Dallas, Josh, or Sam. Instead, the team reached its goal through three 10-point bonus questions, going to Sam (18B), Dallas (19B), and Josh (20B).

Following this quiz, CMD 2 had the privilege of being joined in team prayer time by the Metro team, CMD 2's adopted sister team. The team had a wonderful time of praying and praising God together with the Metro team.

Quiz 22-4 (Room 4, 3:00 pm)
Ohio Valley 50
Western Canada 2 90
CMD 2 200

This quiz started with some great light-hearted fun, as Aaron won the practice "Veggie Tales Trivia" question and proceeded to offer his full rendition of the "Chocolate Factory" song while answering the question. Once the applause had died down, the quiz started with some solid jumps by Western Canada 2 and Ohio Valley before Aaron got the team started with an MA CR question on question 5. By question 10, Aaron and Dallas each had two questions and the team had a 40 point lead on the other two teams. The lead narrowed to 20 points by question 15, at which point CMD 2 earned its third-person bonus with an MA question from Keri on question 15, its fourth-person bonus with a straightforward question from Josh on question 16 (jumping outside his primary category), and its fifth-person bonus with a CR question from Sam on question 17. Question 19A featured some tension, as Sam jumped on a CVR reference, handled it well, but was called incorrect based on his question formation. Aaron challenged that the quizmaster had not asked him for his question at the correct point, but was overuled. The quizmaster and answer judge then went into a long consultation, after which they announced that Sam's question would be accepted as correct after all. CMD 2 was greatly encouraged by the goodness of God in this quiz, and were glad to be offered the compliment of being told by Ohio Valley that they were happy to lose to CMD 2 because of the team's attitude.

Following the quiz, CMD 2 had another wonderful time of prayer together. The focus of the prayer time was praying for CMD 1 to have a strong final quiz. The CMD 1 coaches had asked CMD 2 to pray that they could have a quiz where they scored 200 points, as this would give CMD 1 a good shot at jumping into the top nine and making the A Side Playoffs. CMD 2 was happy to pray this for their fellow team members, but also prayed that whatever the outcome, CMD 1 would find the same joy in experiencing God's blessing that CMD 2 was experiencing.

Quiz 24 (Room 4, 4:20 pm)

CMD 1 290
Midwest 20
Western Great Lakes 70

After a long delay waiting for Western Great Lakes to arrive from their previous back-to-back quiz in room 2, the quiz got rolling for CMD 1 with a bonus question to Aaron on question 3. Aaron followed this up with a situation question on question 5, with Ashley adding an MA question on question 7 and an F2V question on question 9. The team's third-person bonus came with Deborah taking a CVR question on question 10. Heather joined the fun with the team's fourth-person bonus on a straightforward question 11. As the CMD spectators cheered enthusiastically, CMD 1 went on to see both Aaron and Heather take second questions, while Deborah managed to quiz out without error on question 20. Jordan, who had come in for Ashley on question 12, was unable to win a jump for the team's fifth-person bonus; however, since all but one of the following questions were successfully answered by other team members, neither he nor the team were very upset by this! CMD 1's 290 point score may well stand as the highest single score of this year's prelim round, a fact that brings great pleasure to both CMD teams. The whole team is rejoicing in God's answers to prayer!

God is faithful! Both CMD teams were blessed by God in their morning quizzes.

Quiz 14-1 (Quiz room 1)
CMD 1 150
Eastern Canada 90
Northwestern 60

CMD 1 won this quiz handily, with the way being led by Aaron, Ashley, and Jordan. Deborah also was able to add questions later in the quiz.

Quiz 14-4 (Quiz room 4)
Central Canada 1 20
CMD 2 200
Midwest 60

Keri led the way for CMD 2 on this quiz, taking the first question and two other MA questions, and narrowly missing the jump on a CR question on question 20 which would have given her the opportunity to quiz out without error. Josh and Sam contributed questions, with Dallas adding a question for fourth-person bonus on question 17. After a rough start with two errors, Aaron finally got a quote question on question 19A for a fifth-person bonus for the team, clearing the way for Keri to try for the quiz out on question 20.

Quiz 16-2 (Quiz room 2)
Great Lakes 1 130
Southwestern 40
CMD 2 180

The Sunday before practice week, CMD 2 did their recitation and presentation at Ebenezer Baptist, Keri's home church. The pastor that Sunday preached on how times of triumph are usually followed by times of trial. CMD 2 has experienced that this week a few times. This was a hard quiz for Keri after her great quiz earlier, watching the first two MA questions go to other quizzers. When she finally got the third MA on question 9, it was an odd question which threw her off, and she got an error. Fortunately, Aaron challenged the question, the other captains both graciously supported his challenge, and the question was redone. Keri got the replacement question and took it. God is good, even in the times of trial. Dallas also took an early question, with Aaron getting the third-person bonus on a CVR on question 11 and Josh coming through on a straightforward question outside his category on question 19A for fourth-person bonus. This cleared the way for everyone to sit and let Sam try for fifth-person bonus on question 20. However, on the MA jump, he was just beat by Jill from Great Lakes, who took the question. Sam is still grateful to God, however for his goodness to the team, as is the whole team. Aaron was also grateful after a rough quiz before to have the opportunity to make a good challenge to save a question for the team and to contribute two questions and a 20-point bonus in this quiz. God is faithful - after the times of trial, come new times of triumph!

Day 1 has ended for the CMD teams. This year, Internationals is using a 12-quiz preliminary round, which allows each team to quiz every other team, as well as quizzing two teams twice. Each of our teams quizzed five times on the first day:

Quiz 1-1 (9:30 am, Room 1 with Bill Jones as quizmaster)
South Atlantic 10
CMD 1 110
Metropolitan 90

Quiz 1-2 (9:30 am, Room 2 with Ken Sproul as quizmaster)
CMD 2 240
Western Canada 1 170
Central Canada 2 10
This quiz was exciting for CMD 2, as we scored third-person (Aaron), fourth-person (Keri), and fifth-person (Sam) bonuses following earlier questions by Dallas and Josh, with three quizzers (Dallas, Aaron, and Sam) taking more than one question.

Quiz 3-2 (10:30 am, Room 2 with Ken Sproul as quizmaster)
CMD 1 90
Central 170
Southeastern 20

Quiz 3-3 (10:30 am, Room 3 with Dave Kornelson as quizmaster)
CMD 2 100
South Atlantic 80
Western PA 1 50
This quiz was an error-fest, with a total of 10 errors (and 1 missed bonus). The quiz was decided on question 20A, which Josh won for CMD 2 on a perfect FTV jump.

Quiz 5-4 (11:30 am, Room 4 with Jon Caskey as quizmaster)
Central Canada 2 30
CMD 2 150
Northeastern 170
This quiz was won by a very strong Northeastern team. CMD 2 fought back from a 80 point deficit at the beginning of question 18, to come close by the end of the quiz. Question 20 was exciting, as Keri won an MA jump to earn CMD 2 its fourth-person bonus, following earlier questions by Aaron, Josh, and Dallas (third-person bonus). Not to be left out, Sam contributed a 20-point bonus on question 16A.

Quiz 6-4 (1:00 pm, Room 4 with Jon Caskey as quizmaster)
Western PA 2 40
Great Lakes 1 120
CMD 1 90

Quiz 8-3 (2:00 pm, Room 3 with Dave Kornelson as quizmaster)
CMD 2 210
Western Canada 2 140
CMD 1 30
CMD 2 was excited by their team performance in this quiz, as they once again scored third-person (Josh), fourth-person (Aaron), and fifth-person (Keri) bonuses, following earlier questions by Dallas and Sam. In addition, Dallas took questions 18, 19, and 20 to quiz out without error. CMD 1 had a rough quiz, with one great jump by Jordan thrown out by the quizmaster because he felt he had mispronounced the key word at the beginning of the question, even though Jordan understood it and wanted to answer it, and some good jumps on tough questions resulting in errors.

Quiz 10-1 (3:00 pm, Room 1 with Bill Jones as quizmaster)
Pacific Northwest 120
Northwestern 60
CMD 2 70
This quiz also featured a lot of errors, with 10 errors in the quiz, started off by two CMD 2 errors. Once we had the ball rolling, the other teams got behind it and pushed by speeding up the jumping. After quizzing out without error in the previous quiz, Dallas was unable to win a single jump in this quiz. Josh and Sam were also stymied. CMD 2 did, however, enjoy seeing our PNW friends from Great West take pleasure in their victory over a CMD team!

Quiz 10-3 (3:00 pm, Room 3 with Dave Kornelson as quizmaster)
Central Canada 1 60
Western PA 1 170
CMD 1 50


Overall, CMD 1 has had a rough day, with many of the breaks going against them in terms of the questions they have won jumps on and the questions that other teams have been able to get, but the team is looking forward to seeing what God can do tomorrow, knowing that the outcomes are in God's hands.

CMD 2 has had an exciting day of seeing God work through both the highs of big wins and the lows of frustrating quizzes filled with errors and over-aggressive jumping. We have also been enjoying praying for and cheering on Metro. CMD 2 decided before coming to Internationals to "adopt" one team to pray for and cheer on this week. After drawing lots, Metro was selected as our chosen team. We were excited to see God work in the scheduling of the draw, as we do not quiz against Metro until our very last preliminary quiz, which means we can pray for and cheer on Metro in the prelims with no concerns about how either of our teams felt about our head-to-head quiz. We invite our friends and families back home to join us in praying for the Metropolitan district team of Tim Lau, Victor Liao, Timothy Huang, Samantha Shen, and Michael Lee, as well as their coaches Allen McPherson and Edmund Lau.

The CMD teams are safely in Chicago at Wheaton College. The College here is beautiful and the food at the cafeteria has been spectacular (a welcome change from some previous Internationals!). After a long day of travel beginning with wake-up by 3:00 am to get to the airport by 4:00, most of the team were ready for an early night on Tuesday, but woke up Wednesday morning excited to be here! We were pleased to find the Haight and Johnson families already here when we arrived, and the Munchinsky family arrived as we were finishing supper, completing our team again. We are looking forward to the arrival of Milners on Thursday, completing our cheering squad!

As you know, Internationals are approaching quickly. Practice week for our teams begins Monday. Keep us in your prayers! For your information, the teams are:

Team 1
Coach: Debbie Block
Assistant: Ernie Munchinsky
Deborah Unruh
Aaron MacPherson
Heather Pitman
Ashley Janzen
Jordan Goetz

Team 2
Coach: Bryan Orthner
Assistant: Shea Durston
Aaron Haight
Dallas Johnson
Keri Munchinsky
Joshua Ulriksen
Sam Milner

Watch for updates!

In May at the coaches' meeting, we raised the possibility of a seminar for coaches this summer. We have now set a date and place - August 11th at Erindale Alliance in Saskatoon. Debbie Block and Bryan Orthner (this year's International coaches) will be leading the seminar. If you are interested in attending, please email seminar AT cmdquizzing.org to find out more or to register. There will be no cost for the seminar (other than your own travel costs). We are hoping to videotape the seminar sessions and make videos available this fall.