Party in the GNTs! Join the Flight A and C Fun

Amazing. We matched pre-pandemic levels with 8 teams pre-registered for Flight A taking place this Sunday, Feb 4th (along with Flight C). And what a party it is, we have a huge crowd of GNT veterans joining the mix, including many multi-flight entries. One funny and hard-to-explain phenomenon: Why is it almost every GNT-A team is playing in GNT-B with a different group? You’d think there was some unspoken rule to randomly swap teammates and partners. Nevertheless, let’s introduce a few of the teams.

The Flight “B” Graduates

Last year at the Chicago NABC we sent two B teams, Team Verrier and Team Schwartz. The teams have merged, mixed, and morphed into two new teams (see above). As always, playing up is highly encouraged in the GNTs, so it will be interesting to see how the Flight B finalists do in a 0-6000 field. Hopefully, we will also see everyone at the Flight B finals on Feb 25th, making for an action-packed but hectic KO post season (pre-register please).

The Flight “C” Graduates

You might think a Flight C team jumping all the way to Flight A is an overbid, but this isn’t any 0-500 crew. In Chicago, Team Boge and Team Mandel went all the way to the national finals and won 1st and 2nd place. Also, last year Maya Jonas-Silver and Jack Latta won 1st place in the District Flight B tournaments (then won the District Flight C Battle of the Jacks). In total, they each took home 80 gold and red points in one GNT season, enough to win the national Mini-McKenney race. Let’s see if they can break a new record and win both A and B!

The Spingolders

Among the pre-registered field, this team has the most collective NABC knockout experience, which involves playing behind bidding screens under the ACBL Eye in the Sky. A majority of Team Chang have previously won the Micro Spingold in separate years, then faced off in the 2022 Mini Spingold finals. Now they’ve merged into one team of Micro / Mini Spingold winners. Regardless of who wins the GNT Flight A this year, we hope District 24 can continue our successful Mini Spingold runs.

The Defending Champs

Team Trabulus are the defending champions and should we need a seeding committee, the conditions grant them the top seed position. The Trabulus team has the longest history of success in representing our District in NAP and GNT events, with Charles Bilich and Michael Krevor representing us in pole position for the Golder North American Pairs this year in Louisville. Also, Trabulus is seemingly the only one immune to the mix-and-match bug that has caught on with every other entrant this year. The team is entirely intact with all 6 players who won Flight A the prior year.

How Many Will Advance?

Unfortunately, only one team will advance to the NABCs, unlike Flights B and C where we can send two teams after reaching the 8 team threshold. However, it’s not too late to join and register for any and all flights (even Championship for those who love to play up). Flight B in particular could use some help, but we suspect many players will decide whether to register for flight B after they see the A and C results on Sunday…