CAST 2024 Review
The California Annual Spectacular Tournament was the largest West Coast spectacular tournament since pre-COVID years—27 teams altogether. Brother Ralph Yuvienco of Bethel Baptist Carson hosted the tournament, while Sister Allison Castner of Faith Baptist Canoga Park coded spreadsheets and prepped questions, scoresheets, and programs. These two ministries were joined by quizzers from First Baptist Long Beach, Franklin Road Baptist Tennessee, and Woodside Baptist Colorado.
We had quite a few adult quizzers, some of whom had quizzed over the material 9 years ago, as well as quite a few brand-new quizzers. Nicole Caroline Areola, Gabriel Delaney, and Joshua Zabala led the charge of veteran adult quizzers. Grace Christian continued her quick activations and steady answers all day playing tag-team with Jacqueline Bui on who was going to quiz out first on their team. It was also great to see quizzers like Nathaniel Villarreal, who only started quizzing last year, step it up with the new material.
Quizzers battled it out in the morning rounds and then split into a championship flight and a consolation flight. Brother Ralph’s crew provided an excellent lunch of Raising Cane’s chicken fingers and fettuccine alfredo, not to mention the beautiful charcuterie board and other snacks. Following the round-robins in the afternoon, the top-5 teams from both flights competed all the way through double-elimination rounds. In the end, a 10-point error made the difference between 1st and 2nd places in both flights—with fatigue errors playing the determining factor in the last rounds.
Gold, silver, and bronze medals were awarded in the championship flight for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places. The consolation flight top-3 teams were allowed to select a box of candy for their awards.
We also honored the top-10 quizzers. The top-3 received medals, with the remainder choosing from the candy selection.
Championship Flight:
1st Nicole Caroline Areola & Nathaniel Villareal (First Long Beach)
2nd Grace Christian & Jacqueline Bui (Faith Baptist Canoga)
3rd Gideon & Jephthae (Gabriel Delaney [Franklin Road Murfreesboro TN and Joshua Zabala [First Long Beach])
Consolation Flight:
1st Christian Harris & John Troy Areola (First Long Beach)
2nd Tyra Adebayo & Jason Christian (Faith Baptist Canoga)
3rd Rosarah Yim & Gabby Servia (First Long Beach)
Top Individual Quizzers:
1 Grace Christian (Faith Canoga)
2 Nicole Areola (First Long Beach)
3t Jacqueline Bui (Faith Canoga)
3t Gabriel Delaney (Franklin Road TN)
5 Verena Malak (First Long Beach)
6 Manasseh Osei-kwarteng (First Long Beach)
7 Jared Maack (Faith Canoga)
8 Nathaniel Villareal (First Long Beach)
9 Joshua Zabala (First Long Beach)
10t Joseph Maack (Faith Canoga)
10t Jono Scott (Woodside CO)
At the end of the day, we had a great time of fellowship and praised God for the fun and time of iron sharpening iron. The California teams are already preparing for the upcoming local tournaments this fall.