-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Name: S L -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For my story for Assignment 9 below, I decided to write an article for The Chronicle. If the events that are indicated in the article below were to occur, then an article similar to this one would be published and be placed in the print edition. At the end of the day, I decided to base my article on a possible Computer Science National Championship that would base its events on the competing against another university in APT assignments and activities. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- URL's: http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2017/12/dukes-computer-science-team-wins-programs-first-national-championship -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Duke’s Computer Science Team Wins Program’s First National Championship By Spencer Levy | 12/11/2017 DURHAM, N.C.—The championship hardware is returning to Durham, N.C. It was not an easy feat, having to matchup against some on the top ranked teams in the nations, but the Blue Devils will walk away the college national champions for the first time in program history. For the Duke team led by seniors Carla Lamport and Leslie Ellis, the path to gold was not as easy as they would have hoped. With a rigorous course load to accompany the team’s daily practices, the Blue Devils were not able to partake in the regional championship that transpired last month in Columbia, S.C., at the site of University of South Carolina. Thus, Duke had to arrive early to qualify for the main draw. “Well, we survived our toughest test of the season,” Blue Devil head coach Susan Rodger said. “I was really proud of our seniors leading this team to our first championship. Now it’s time to head to Disneyland to celebrate our success on and off the computer this season.” The conditions for the national championship was expected—cold with some snow—as this year’s event was hosted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. In their Ray and Maria Stata Center, which opened its doors only 13 years ago, over fifty teams from all over the nations. “We struggled initially in the finals against MIT. After defeating Harvard in a close decision Saturday afternoon, we knew that we needed to get out to a fast start,” Lamport said. “But we did not get the job done at the beginning and needed a strong performance from our seniors in order to claim the championships at the end of the day.” In the championship match, the Blue Devils faced off against the defending champion Engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and pulled the stunning victory in upset fashion. The Engineers won the first four out of five APT assignments in the first section of the match. In the second of the four parts, the Blue Devils began to inch back to make leave Duke down a mere two events going into the midway point of the finals. “At halftime, we knew what we had to do. It starts with myself as a captain of this team. We got to strong start and continued our success to defeat the defending champions,” Ellis said. “When I joined this team my freshman year, I set a goal for myself to lead the team to a national championship. I am so happy that we were able to win with my peers.” As was the case for much of the season, the third quarter was the Blue Devils’ best of the day, as Duke swept all five APT competitions and took a 9-6 event lead with only five competitions left to play in the season. The fourth part was much of the same dominance that transpired in the third period. Duke won nine of its last 10 competitions to cruise to a second half surge en route to a 13-7 championship win. The six-game differential marks the largest difference in a Computer Science national championship match since 2008, when Stanford took down Harvard in a 15-5 decision. The Blue Devils knew they had won it all when the 593 test cases saw themselves turn from red to green. The sight, which was also broadcast on the projector at the front of the stage, left the Duke fans on their feet and cheering. Then, it was all celebration as the Blue Devils took the remaining two competitions. “I am proud of what this team has accomplished this season. They fought back when times were tough and competed the way they practiced,” Duke University President Vincent Price said in a team press release Monday afternoon. “On behalf of the administration, I want to congratulate the entire Computer Science team for achieving the goals that Professor Rodger mentioned to me before their first competition in September.” By virtue of the collegiate rules mandating that the winning university has the opportunity to host the next year’s competition, Blue Devils will take up the chance to defend its title back home next fall. “I just got off the phone with [Duke] President [Vincent] Price,” Rodger said. “We will indeed be the host of the 2018 national championship. I want to thank President Price and the administration for continually allowing the Computer Science program at Duke to thrive in a difficult challenge each and every year.” The Blue Devils will have the spring off to learn from their mistakes and regroup and reload with new members come August. For now, Duke will improve their programming skills inside and out of the classroom and practice. The practice schedule, according to Rodger, will decrease to three times a week as opposed to the in-season schedule of six times a week. “We accomplished the goals we set out to accomplish at the onset of the season,” Rodger said. “Now, it is time to hit the books and prepare for next season.” This article was updated Monday at 2:45 p.m. to include President Price’s comments. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------