On April 2nd the UKAT sent a team of Seth, Chad, Will, and Gerald to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where it did battle with the best of the best in Academic Competition vying for supremacy at at this year's ACF Nationals. After twelve very hard, very long games, the team finished 8-4, good enough for ninth place, five places above our ranking in the current poll but certain not to affect our standing on it. Read the writeup and marvel at the statistics here, if you dare!

Three weeks later, on April 23rd Chad, Will, Ryan, and Miranda closed out the season at UTC's Moonpie, where the team emerged triumphantly, collecting three tournament all-stars (for Ryan in fifth place, Will in fourth, and Chad taking MVP) as well as the tournament win. Chad's account of their merry derring-do is here; and with that, the 2004-2005 ends.

Finally, on a more serious note: come May, the conclusion of the school year will herald the end of the playing careers with the UKAT of several of its most beloved and talented members. Graduation will take away from us Nathan Coulombe, Rebecca Wiggington, and Christy Freadreacea, members who have been less active in recent years but whose contributions over their tenure has been invaluable on a competitive and, even more demonstrably, a personal level. Moreover, Chad Money will be collecting his degree and departing as well; despite having only been with the team two-and-a-half years, Chad has grown into an excellent and well-respected (by those who matter, anyway) scorer capable of carrying a team with his all-star caliber play or unselfishly acting as a talented supporting member, and his role on the team during this year has been immense, as will the vacuum his absence will create. Finally, having come out of his de facto retirement for Regionals this year, Kelly McKenzie will indeed be moving on as well; having become one of the best writers and editors and for two years perhaps the best ACF player in the game, Kelly has been the architect of most of the UKAT's success over the last four years and an inspiration to those who have followed his career. Not only teammates but also cherished friends, the UKAT will forever be in their debt and will miss them keenly.

On February 5th the UKAT sent three teams to UTC to compete at the NaQt Southeast Sectional, where Seth's buzzer artistry (reminiscent more of a Joan Miro than a David in this case) launched his team to the very summit of mediocrity in Division I (far behind tournament-winners Emory; congratulations to them), while Lyle's support of twin towers Will and Ryan propelled them to sixth place in Division II and Dana helped Chad haul their team to second place. A fine effort, at least for the Division II teams, about which you may read more (as well as thrill to the rhapsody of the statistics) here.

Three weeks later, on February 26th the UKAT (joined by honorary member Rose, playing on an exhibition team with the UKAT's resident Flagellum Dei Kelly) returned to UTC to compete at ACF Regionals. With Gerald now acting as the lintel spanning the columns of Ryan and Will, the C team finished second amongst undergraduate teams, while Jonathan and Miranda helped Chad win the undergraduate title; Rose and Kelly tied for fourth, and via his well-established alliance with the powers of darkness Seth won the tournament under suboptimal circumstances, chronicled in his matchlessly pedestrian prose here.

On January 15th the UKAT sent a team to compete at the mammoth Michigan MLK, where the some of the country's best Tossup Machines trod the snow-covered ground like AT-ATs assaulting the Rebel base on Hoth, to whose temperatures Ann Arbor bore not merely a slight resemblance. Anyway, after pulverising losses in its first two games the UKAT won the rest of its matches to capture third in its bracket (and apparently sixth - maybe?- overall; final standings were not listed) and had a pretty good time on easy but mostly academic questions; you can read more about our exploits (the best of which occurring on the road) as well as feast your eyes and glut your soul on our statistics, which may be found here.

On October 30th the UKAT sent four teams to compete at this year's ACF Fall, where its teams placed second, fourth, fifth, and seventh. Because official results and statistics have not yet been released, the long-delayed write-up will be based on the copy Seth had printed out for him and likely have some inaccuracies which may be subject to revision, but nevertheless may be found here.

Two weekends later, Seth, Chad, and Gerald competed for the UKAT at the Illinois Open, where it finished in fourth place. The write-up for that tournament may be found here.

With that, the fall campaign draws to a close. On the immediate horizon are a number of tournaments which will be held in January, including two tournaments during MLK weekend (at Georgia Tech and Michigan, respectively), this inaugural ATC thing (January 29th at Berry College, Georgia), and ACF Regionals in February; we'll see what comes of them.

On October 23rd the UKAT sent a team in the form of Chad forging westward solo to Rolla, Missouri, where he participated in University of Missouri-Rolla's Rollapalooza. Apparently he had a very good time indeed, as he states in his writeup, which may be found here.

On October 16th the UKAT managed to field two teams to UTC's seventh annual Center of the Known Universe, where it managed to have a decent time despite two less-than-stellar records of 5-3 and 3-5. The exact placement of these teams is not yet known, as official records and statistics have not yet been released; however, Seth managed (as is his wont) to acquire a copy of the official stats from the TD, and it is these statistics which are put into the official writeup, which may be found here.

On September 25th the UKAT fielded four teams, two per Division, at Georgia Tech's Heinrich Bowl. While the thoughts of all the participants have not yet been collected, and the opinions of the veterans vary, no one yet seems to have voiced regret at having gone. At any rate, at the end of the day the four teams finished second and fifth in Division I and third and seventh in Division II, and while all the players performed well, of special note is the excellent scoring of newcomers Ryan and Michael, the latter of whom earning a Division II all-star for his performance.

Statistics and an enormously overlong write-up may be found here.

The regular season for the UKAT has gotten underway. Practices for younger and less experienced players will be at 6 PM Tuesday and Wednesday in Room 117 of the Student Center, while the veteran practice will be held at the same time and place on Thursdays. Note that the team continues to welcome new members. All UK students are eligible to participate, and any interested persons are invited to drop by during a practice and check out whether our organization might appeal to you; alternatively, feel free to e-mail us.


Thus far, the following tournaments are tentatively on our schedule for the semester:
September 25th - Heinrich Bowl at Georgia Tech
October 16th - Center of the Known Universe at UT-Chattanooga
October 30th - ACF Fall Tournament (site to be determined)

More may be added to this depending on the wishes of the team, so watch this space.

All incoming freshmen and returning students interested in joining the UK Academic Team are invited and encouraged to attend our new members meeting on Wednesday, September 1, at 6:00 PM in Room 117 of the Student Center. Team leaders will be present to introduce our organization and our style of competition, and to field questions about who we are and what we do. We might even be able to play a couple of games.

All UK students are eligible to participate. Please feel free to drop by; for more information, don't hesitate to e-mail us.

All various and sundry items from the summer have been moved to the News Archive; for the reports, statistics, and madcap antics of the teams at these events, you can go here.