The State Academic Decathlon (AcaDec) competition took place Saturday, Jan. 23. The team won the SuperQuiz challenge and won second in the state overall.

Sophomore Nick Dunn took first in Science, second in Social Studies, and third in Art and Economics. Junior Anna Trofimoff placed third in Language and Social Studies. Sophomore Ben Hanson placed first in Social Studies. Sophomore Evan Haseltine placed third in Art. Sophomore Brittany Kulla placed first in Essay. Sophomore Joy Knowles placed second in Impromptu Speech, third in Social Studies, Speech, and Show Prep, and first in Interview with a perfect score.

Although this marks the end of the season for the team, they are proud of their accomplishments this season sophomore Joy Knowles said.

“We didn’t really focus on winning per se, but we were working to learn how to prepare so that we could learn what to do next year,” Knowles said. “The majority of the team members were doing this for the first time, so we needed to figure how we need to study.”

The team was one varsity member short in every competition this season except State. Sophomore Evan Haseltine stepped in at the last minute to round out the team in the varsity category.

The team will find out the topic of next year’s competition over the summer, but in the meantime, they plan to have a celebration for all of their hard work and progress sometime in March.

“We were very close to the team that came in first, and this was the first year of most of the contestants on our team,” Knowles said. “So who knows what’s in store for next year.”