Wilmot Union High School Academic Decathlon team: (Front) Lauren McCluskey, Adrian Arcoleo, Abbey Chappell, Katie O’Brien
(Back) Savannah Rivers, Austin Johnson, Tyler Magee, Carter Dybing, Arie Deeter.
Wilmot Union High School won the live Super Quiz Relay event which included all 20 state qualifying teams regardless of division. This event is the only Academic Decathlon event that can be viewed by the public. It has a truly electric atmosphere with a pep band, 700 screaming fans, and two news anchors from Madison MC’ing the event. Only 3 different schools, now including Wilmot, have won the Super Quiz Relay over the past 12 years. This also may have been the hardest Super Quiz Relay ever because it covered 6 subjects instead of the traditional 1 subject. ”
“Simply put, on paper we should not have won this contest, but our entire team believed, came in confident, and rose to the occasion,” team coach Don Serkowski said. “It was so awesome to accomplish this first in front of so many wildly enthusiastic Wilmot students, parents, faculty, and colleagues. Many other schools were also openly cheering us on because of our common underdog status against the 2 state powerhouses, Waukesha West and New Berlin Eisenhower. All of that positive energy was definitely a driving force toward our victory.”
Wilmot also had its 1st student to ever make the All-State team. Junior Savannah Rivers was the top scoring Varsity Division decathlete earning her a gold medal and an opportunity at a direct scholarship from participating Wisconsin colleges. It was incredible to see Savannah announced as one of the 9 members of the All-State team, but truly magical to see her face as she was announced as the very best in her Division in the entire state. A sophomore was Wilmot’s overall leading scorer at state, another first. Lauren McCluskey led the Panthers with 7,532 points. Lauren competes in the Honors Division and received a $200 cash scholarship for her efforts. The 9 individuals on the team also accrued the most state medals ever, 20. The Panther Decathletes advance to the Medium school USAD online finals which will commence on April 4 and end on April 26. The team can win a banner if it places in the top 3 in the division and students can win up to $1,000 in cash scholarships. There are also medals awarded to the top three finishers in Art, Music, Language and Literature, Science, Math, Social Science, Economics, and Essay. This year’s overall theme is Russia.
