Wakeland’s Academic Decathlon team competed in the Division Two State Championship from Feb. 23-25, 2024. They entered the tournament as the first-place team in D2, and they finished as state champions.
Academic Decathlon is a difficult competition across 10 different events that incorporate various academic topics and skills within a theme. This year’s theme is Technology and Humanity. There are seven multiple-choice tests: Art, Economics, Literature, Math, Music, Science, and Social Science. Participants also compete in subjective events, such as Speech, Essay, and Interview. For each event, they receive a score out of 1,000 points, so their final score is out of 10,000. Each team has nine competitors across three brackets based on their GPA, and the top two scores in each bracket count towards the team’s final score.
There are so many different events, and it can be difficult to prepare for all of them. The team found creative ways to study, which helped ensure their victory.
“I broke things up into sections, then pages, and then into paragraphs. Then I summarized them, so it’s a more concise amount of information to memorize,” sophomore Eva Bush said.
At regionals, the team earned a score of 38,123. They placed as the 41st team in the state, which means they qualified in first place for the Division Two state, which is held in Frisco. The top 40 teams competed at the state competition in San Antonio.
“Since we went in ranked first to state, I think the team was very focused on everybody raising their score across all the events because we knew we had a chance of continuing to be first place,” head coach Cone said.
Although the team did not qualify to travel to San Antonio, they worked hard to prepare for the state competition in Frisco. The competition was held at Collin College and Lebanon Trail High School, with the awards ceremony at the Embassy Suites.
At state, the team received an overall score of 39,330. They also took home the first-place award for Super Quiz and won first place overall, securing their spot as state champions.
“My favorite moment from state was the moment they announced the second place winner and it wasn’t Wakeland because that was the moment everyone on the team realized we got first place,” senior Rachel Abbott said.
The team won more than 20 individual awards in various events, with several members placing in the top five overall. In the varsity bracket, junior Alex Han won first overall. In the scholastic bracket, junior Chloe Cotter placed 5th, senior Paul Moerschell placed 2nd, and senior Gladys Maness won first overall.
“It was a really great experience to be rewarded for all of the hard work I put in, and seeing my teammates and I win so many awards was really fun,” Moerschell said.
While this was a big accomplishment for Wakeland, it was also the end of an era for some seniors, including team captain Maness. Maness has been on the team since freshman year, following the legacy of her older brothers, who competed for Wakeland Academic Decathlon in previous years.
“My experience in AcDec has been amazing. I think I really grew as a person, and I met a lot of great people. I want to tell all new competitors to really give it your all because it is a really rewarding challenge,” Maness said.
While it can be hard to move on from the past, competitors and coaches look optimistically to the future.
“It’s going to be hard to lose our seniors, but we have a great tradition to build on. We’re looking forward to the new topic, we have lots of returners, and we know that they’re going to continue the excellence we had this year,” Cone said.
