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The Bandera Academic Decathlon Team members are: back row – left to right: William “Ozzie” Knowles, Laurel Morsi, Megan Mize, Savannah Venegas, Riley Longobardi, and Joe Cortez – coach.
Front row – left to right: Dan Zavorka – coach, Chandler Knowles, Christopher Pallesen, Emily Ramos, and Karina Garcia.
Courtesy Photo
March 1, 2022
For the fourth consecutive year, the Beast does it again
Bandera Academic Decathlon Team brings home the gold
The Bandera Academic Decathlon Team competed at the state competition at the University of Incarnate Word, in San Antonio, Feb. 25 – 27, and for the fourth consecutive year, the team earned gold at state competition.
Bandera has been the champion of five state-level events and one national-level event within the past six years. This year, the team members have earned a total of $16,500 in decathlon scholarships.
The team members are Megan Mize, Savannah Venegas, William “Ozzie” Knowles, Laurel Morsi, Emily Ramos, Karina Garcia, Chandler Knowles, Christopher Pallesen and Riley Longobardi. The team is coached by Dan Zavorka and Joe Cortez.
The team is comprised of high school students who are divided into three divisions depending upon their grade-point average. These divisions are Honors, Scholastic and Varsity. The 4A varsity students compete against all other 4A varsity students from other teams, the 4A scholastic compete against 4A scholastic students, and 4A honors students compete against 4A honors students.
Individual medal recognition is as follows:
Savannah Venegas: Bronze in Literature and Gold in Speech.
William “Ozzie” Knowles: Bronze in Mathematics, Silver in Music and Gold in Science
Laurel Morsi: Silver in Mathematics and Gold in Interview with a perfect score.
Emily Rams – Bronze in Literature, Bronze in Mathematics and Bronze in Music
Christopher Pallesen: Bronze in Economics, Silver in Mathematics, Silver in Essay and Silver in Speech
Riley Longobardi: Bronze in Art, Gold in Economics, Silver in Science, Silver in Social Science, and Silver in Music.
Chandler Knowles: Silver in Economics, Silver in Literature, Bronze in Mathematics, Bronze in Music, Bronze in Interview, Silver in Social Science, Gold in Essay, Gold in Art, and Gold in Science.
Additionally, five students were recognized for their overall top scores among the 4A schools:
Laurel Morsi – 5th overall Scholastic
William Knowles – 4th overall honors
Christopher Pallesen – 3rd overall varsity
Riley Longobardi – 3rd overall varsity
Chandler Knowles – 1st overall varsity
Bandera has been the champion of five state-level events and one national-level event within the past six years. This year, the team members have earned a total of $16,500 in decathlon scholarships.
The team members are Megan Mize, Savannah Venegas, William “Ozzie” Knowles, Laurel Morsi, Emily Ramos, Karina Garcia, Chandler Knowles, Christopher Pallesen and Riley Longobardi. The team is coached by Dan Zavorka and Joe Cortez.
The team is comprised of high school students who are divided into three divisions depending upon their grade-point average. These divisions are Honors, Scholastic and Varsity. The 4A varsity students compete against all other 4A varsity students from other teams, the 4A scholastic compete against 4A scholastic students, and 4A honors students compete against 4A honors students.
Individual medal recognition is as follows:
Savannah Venegas: Bronze in Literature and Gold in Speech.
William “Ozzie” Knowles: Bronze in Mathematics, Silver in Music and Gold in Science
Laurel Morsi: Silver in Mathematics and Gold in Interview with a perfect score.
Emily Rams – Bronze in Literature, Bronze in Mathematics and Bronze in Music
Christopher Pallesen: Bronze in Economics, Silver in Mathematics, Silver in Essay and Silver in Speech
Riley Longobardi: Bronze in Art, Gold in Economics, Silver in Science, Silver in Social Science, and Silver in Music.
Chandler Knowles: Silver in Economics, Silver in Literature, Bronze in Mathematics, Bronze in Music, Bronze in Interview, Silver in Social Science, Gold in Essay, Gold in Art, and Gold in Science.
Additionally, five students were recognized for their overall top scores among the 4A schools:
Laurel Morsi – 5th overall Scholastic
William Knowles – 4th overall honors
Christopher Pallesen – 3rd overall varsity
Riley Longobardi – 3rd overall varsity
Chandler Knowles – 1st overall varsity