BLS Certamen at the Boston Elite Tournament
Updated: Oct 3, 2019
This past Saturday, several representatives from BLSJCL arrived at Boston University for the 9th Annual Boston Elite Certamen Tournament! This tournament was created for the best Certamen players, current or past, from around the country to come and play which is why it is only for Advanced or adult players. There were two teams comprised of the current BLSJCL Advanced Certamen players: Team No Cap with Luc Azar-Tanguay, Ethan Clark, Dante Minutillo (captain), and Danny Nguyen were coming back as the reigning champions hoping to win once again; and Team Xiangan with Joshua Emokpae, Xiangan He (captain), Devin Ho, and Cindy Zhou. There were also some BLSJCL Sponsors/Coaches and former that played as well. Team It's an Honor Just to Be Nominated included Mr. Brownell and Mr. Kerpan, and team Durus in Pigmento was represented by Mr. Howard as well as BLS Alum and 2018 NJCL Certamen MVP, Nestoras Apodiakos who was coached by Mr. Howard. After tedious preliminary rounds of DI passages and wacky questions, the teams approached the semi-finals with a more serious mentality. Team No Cap faced a Florida based team fully comprised of former NJCL Champions and MVPs in David Jackson, Gabe Molina, Joshua Pincus, and Henry Schott. However, NJCL Certamen Hall of Famer and current reigning Boston Elite MVP Dante Minutillo sparked a comeback to tie the game up at the three quarter mark, and capped off his historic performance with a victory which earned the team a spot in the finals for a 2nd straight year. On the other sides of the bracket, team It's an Honor Just to Be Nominated was eliminated by another Florida based team and team Durus in Pigmento also found themselves in a close round with a greatly improved team from Philips Exeter Academy (which included former BLSJCLer Ben Ehrman, shoutout to him). The round was so close that it went down to the final tossup which Mr. Howard himself got with a clutch buzz that secured their team a spot in the finals. This set the stage for an exciting matchup between the reigning champions captained by Dante Minutillo, their coach Michael Howard, and a great team of Floridians that included 2017 NJCL MVP Aspen Bombardo (a lot of MVPs were in attendance), Noah Harris, Connor Harrison, and Wisconsinite Michael Kearny. After pep talks and hype music, the teams sat down for their final match of the day. Team No Cap started off strong by with Dante scoring 3 of the first 5 tossups and Danny Nguyen adding another which made them the only team to score in the opening quarter. Despite challenges, the team held onto their lead until the final tossup, and the final score was 40-150-10 in favor of team No Cap. They were awarded another Boston Elite Certamen championship, becoming back to back champions, and Dante Minutillo won another MVP for yet another dominant performance.
Thank you to all tournament organizers, question writers, and overall contributors for a great tournament!
Link to website: https://www.bostonelitecertamen.org/
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