The Academic Decathlon team has been working hard all year under the advisory of Mrs. Mary Bird. They compete at many competitions to prepare for their state competition in the spring.

Last weekend, the Academic Decathlon team traveled to Twin Falls, Idaho for their state competition.

For the first day of competition, the team takes written tests covering music, language and literature, math, science, economics, social science, essay, and art. On the second day, the decathletes wear professional attire for their interviews and speeches. The decathletes are judged on how well they do individually and as a team.

“The state competition was a lot harder than the [competitions] we go to throughout the year, but it was a lot of [information] we have already studied this year,” sophomore Mackenzie Wolfe said, “so, it went pretty well.”

The team won first place for overall team score and super quiz in the large school division, beating out four other teams.

Not only did they outshine their competition as a team, but they excelled in their individual events as well. Fourteen decathletes competed individually and all fourteen of them won at least one medal. Also, Makenna Presnell walked away with a special award for having the highest speech and interview scores.

In the varsity division, Hans Liband won a bronze medal for his overall score. For the scholastic division, Qamron Leonard won bronze and Samuel Jackson won silver overall. In the honors division, Hannah Fingel won bronze, Erika Marks won silver, and Mackenzie Wolfe won gold overall. 

“I was satisfied with my performance, but I was hoping for a better score than I actually received. Overall, I was happy I [won a medal] this year because last year I was the only one out of the entire state team not to win a single medal,” Wolfe said.