Wilmot decathletes win another title
By Jason Arndt
Editor
Courtesy of a collective effort by nine students, the Wilmot Union High School academic decathlon team picked up its fifth consecutive state title, coach Don Serkowski said.
The decathletes, who finished first in regional competition in January, finished 597 points ahead of second place Watertown at the March 9 state contest held in the Wisconsin Dells.
“It was their overall strength as decathletes, effectiveness in all 10 events, that led them to victory as a team,” said Serkowski.
The theme this year is Africa.
Overall, the team collected 21 medals and won six of 10 categories, which tied the school record.
The winning categories were literature, economics, social science, science, music and art.
Other competitive categories are essay, interview, speech and math.
According to District Administrator Dan Kopp, who lauded the team’s success, the fifth straight title is indicative of the school’s dedication toward its students.
“We are very proud of our AcaDec kids and coaches,” he said. “This is another example of the great things going on here at Wilmot.”
While the decathletes won six of 10 categories, they also captured the Super Quiz relay competition consisting of five questions per team member, defeating second place Waterford by four questions.
Wolff, Keen lead honors division
Sophomore Marcus Wolff, who correctly answered all five Super Quiz questions to earn a gold medal, tallied the fifth highest overall score in the state.
Additionally, Wolff earned a gold medal on the art test for best score and place third in Literature, where he notched a bronze medal.
“Marcus is now the highest scoring sophomore in Wilmot history and the fourth highest scorer at a decathlon in school history,” said Serkowski about Wolff, who competed in the honors division.
Levi Keen, another sophomore honors student, garnered a bronze medal in music and social science to finish second on the team and 14th among 172 total state competitors.
Heckel posts perfect score
Meanwhile, varsity division competitor Emily Heckel took home several pieces of hardware, including gold medals in three categories.
Of her three gold medals, Heckel saw her largest success in speech, where she notched a perfect score of 1,000 to earn the best overall score in state.
“Not only was her 4-minute open topic speech flawless, so too was her 2-minute impromptu speech for which she was given one minute to prepare after choosing from three possible topics,” Serkowski said.
The perfect score, according to Serkowski, places her name on the state record books.
Heckel, whose other gold medals were in social science and science, also had a bronze medal in both art and music.
Rounding out the varsity competitors were juniors Tanis Rossow and Ambriel Siggeman.
For Rossow, she was fourth overall in state, picking up a gold medal in each of the three categories: music, literature and science.
In social science and art, Rossow garnered silver medals.
Siggeman, meanwhile, had an individual bronze medal in economics.
Adam heads scholastic division
Junior Austin Adam, who had a silver medal in music, also picked up a bronze medal in both literature and essay.
While senior Kylie Henderson took a silver medal in science, freshman Zach O’Brien achieved his best score in literature.
Next up for the academic decathlon team is national competition next month in Frisco, Tex.