LINCOLN (SNR) – Pius X High School in Lincoln won the state championship in the academic decathlon, the school’s second straight title.
The state event was held Feb. 21-22 at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
The team was led by junior Clare Oldenburg, the individual state champion, and senior Andrew Kotopka, the individual state runner-up, in the Honor Students category. This is Pius X’s fifth state title overall, and the fifth in the past seven years. Last year’s team finished sixth at the national event.
Pius X has now qualified for the national championship event in Anchorage, Alaska, April 28-30. Coaches are Ann Kotopka, Alec Hain, and Jean Timmerman.
Oldenburg won gold in Art History and Essay, and earned silvers in Language & Literature, Math, Science and Music.
Kotopka won gold in Science and Music, and silver in Art History, Language & Literature, and Math. Sophomore Kevin Pynes also competed in the Honors Student category, and won gold in Economics and Language & Literature, as well as silver in Art History and bronze in Music.
In Scholastic Students, senior Ashton Ivanov finished second overall, with a gold in Science and Music, silver in Math and Art History, and bronze in Language & Literature and Economics. Sophomore Marianne Cunningham finished third overall in Scholastic, with a gold in Art History and Language and Literature, silver in Science, Music and Essay. Junior Ziyal McArthur won silver in Language and Literature and a bronze in Essay.
In Varsity Students, senior Madison Hodge finished first overall, with golds in Science and Music, silvers in Speech and Art History, and bronzes in Language & Literature, Math and Essay. Senior John Hewitt finished third overall in the category, winning gold in Art History, Language & Literature, and Economics, silvers in Science and Music, and a bronze in Speech. Senior Garrett Beeck also competed for Pius X in the Varsity Students category.
Among the alternates, junior Kolbe Villa (Honors) won gold in Fine Arts, Soft Sciences and Hard Sciences, junior Marcos Oyler (Scholastic) won gold in Fine Arts, Soft Sciences and Hard Sciences, and senior Eric Varicak (Varsity) won silver in Fine Arts, Soft Sciences and Hard Sciences.
Students are picked for categories based on their grade point average.
