Channel Islands of California - 2025 ACF Nationals

Tossup

In this archipelago, an island that was closed from 2014 to 2016 due to unexploded ordnance houses roots calcified by wind-blown sand, forming a caliche forest. Boats owned by Island Packers stop at this chain’s Scorpion Cove. A huge breeding site for elephant seals is on a beach at this island chain’s Point Bennett. In 1972, George and Molly Hunt discovered chicks raised by pairs of “lesbian seagulls” in this archipelago, where a different island is the only home of an unusually bright-colored scrub jay. A cat-sized (10[1]-5[1])island (-5[1])fox is endemic to this chain, (-5[1])where pygmy mammoths once lived. These islands (10[1])were once (-5[1])navigated (-5[1])in pitch-covered tomol canoes (-5[2])by the (10[1])Tongva and Chumash peoples; (10[2]-5[1])ferries now sail (10[1]-5[1])southwest (-5[1])from Oxnard to reach them. (-5[1])Anacapa and Santa Catalina (10[1])are among, (10[1])for 10 points, (10[1]-5[1])what islands off the coast of Southern California? ■END■ (10[7]0[7])

ANSWER: Channel Islands of California [accept Channel Islands National Park; anti-prompt on San Miguel Island, San Clemente Island, Anacapa Island, Santa Cruz Island, or Santa Catalina Island by asking “what larger island group is that part of?”]

= Average correct buzz position

Answerline and category may not exactly match the version played at all sites

Back to tossups

Buzzes

Player	Team	Opponent	Position	Value
Jonathan Huang	MIT	Chicago B	86	-5
Aiden Dartley	Rutgers	Indiana	86	10
Jem Burch	Yale	WUSTL B	87	-5
Truman Hill	Vanderbilt	Ohio State	93	-5
Micah Colman	Waterloo B	NYU	100	10
Liam Kusalik	Waterloo A	Toronto A	102	-5
Athena Shadden	Texas	Toronto C	103	-5
John Chen	British Columbia	Georgia State	107	-5
Elijah Scheinson	Columbia B	RIT	107	-5
Conor Thompson	Iowa State	Minnesota	109	10
Chris Sims	Northwestern	Columbia A	113	-5
Jacky Xu	Cornell A	Georgia Tech	113	10
Vinu Harihar	UC Berkeley B	LSE	113	10
Sarod Nori	Cornell B	Michigan	116	-5
Swapnil Garg	UC Berkeley A	Illinois A	116	10
Andrew Zeng	Stanford	North Carolina A	117	-5
John Marvin	Chicago A	WUSTL A	122	-5
Skand Parvatikar	Arizona State	Ottawa	126	10
Patrick Torre	Maryland	North Carolina B	128	10
Orion Keller	Virginia Tech	Toronto B	131	-5
Anthony Lovegren	UCF	Winona State	131	10
Amogh Kulkarni	Georgia State	British Columbia	140	0
Liam Starnes	Chicago B	MIT	140	10
Cooper Roh	Columbia A	Northwestern	140	10
Chris Scheri	RIT	Columbia B	140	0
Nitin Rao	Harvard	Johns Hopkins	140	0
David Bass	Johns Hopkins	Harvard	140	0
Benjamin McAvoy-Bickford	North Carolina A	Stanford	140	10
Roxanne Tang	Ohio State	Vanderbilt	140	10
Qingyu Zhang	Florida	Penn State	140	10
Benjamin Chapman	Toronto A	Waterloo A	140	10
Wenying Wu	Toronto B	Virginia Tech	140	0
Parth Jagtap	Toronto C	Texas	140	0
Charles Hang	WUSTL A	Chicago A	140	0
John John Groger	WUSTL B	Yale	140	10

Summary

Tournament	Exact Match?	TUH	Conv. %	Power %	Neg %	Average Buzz
2025 ACF Nationals	Yes	23	70%	0%	52%	125.13