For the fifteenth year in a row (10 with current coach Stan Stern) Shawnee Mission South’s Academic Decathlon team has won state. Preparations for Nationals April 16-18 in Garden Grove, Cal. are underway and the overall tenacity of the team is heightening as the date creeps closer.

 In the Academic Decathlon nine members, three of each category (varsity, scholastic, honors),  take the exams while the other few are alternates. The top two scores of each are accounted towards a possible grand total of 60,000. South’s team broke a new school record at State with a total of 41,000 points, beating the previous by 1,000.  The team also did really well in the economics, speech, essay and interview portions. Little change to preparations will be made for Nationals except for continuing taking practice tests and emphasizing the literature section.

 “To go beyond our goal was really something,”  Stern said.

 Along with a new school record, senior Regina Yan broke the individual score, scoring 8,800 out of 10,000, breaking the previous record of about 8,000.

 In Nationals, South is division two of three. They aim to place in the top three of their division in order to receive a medal.

 “It’s gratifying to see all the hard work and all they had to learn payoff,” Stern said.

 Shawnee Mission South’s Academic Decathlon team will be a force to be reckoned with come nationals in California. Their eyes are set on the prize and nothing can get in their way.