Elk Mound Academic Decathlon team takes 3rd place at state meet
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ELK MOUND’S ACADEMIC Decathlon team finished third at the state competition. Pictured above, from left to right, are: Coach Logan Roshell, Carter Brantner, Hannah Cynor, Hannah Caron, Jacob Miller, Amanda Holzer, Seth Hazen, Teddy Paul, Jesse Stewart, Cameron Johnson and Coach Jim Day.
—photo submitted
By LeAnn R. Ralph
ELK MOUND — The Elk Mound High School Academic Decathlon team took third place in the Wisconsin Academic Decathlon in Division 3 March 7 and 8 at Wisconsin Dells.
This year’s theme for the Academic Decathlon was “The 1960s.”
Teams from Elk Mound have competed in Academic Decathlon for more than 30 years, since 1987.
This year’s competition in Wisconsin Dells was the 36th annual state high school competition.
Each team consists of nine students of varied scholastic ability. The students are divided into an Honor, Scholastic and Varsity category, which is determined by their grade point average of A, B, C, or below.
Academic Decathlon offers the challenge of mental competition for all achievement levels of students in ninth through 12th grade.
Logan Roshell and Jim Day are the coaches for the Academic Decathlon team.
Roshell teaches Social Studies and English at Elk Mound High School. Jim Day teaches mathematics at Elk Mound High School.
The Elk Mound Academic Decathlon team includes Carter Brantner, Hannah Cynor, Hannah Caron, Jacob Miller, Amanda Holzer, Seth Hazen, Teddy Paul, Jesse Stewart and Cameron Johnson.
The students started preparing for competition in October. They competed in local competitions in November, the regional competition at UW-Barron County in January, and qualified for the state competition in Wisconsin Dells, Roshell said.
“They prepare by spending hours studying materials in art, music, social science, science, mathematics, economics and literature. They also present prepared speeches, write a full essay and take part in an interview process,” he said.
This year, Elk Mound’s highest scorer at state was senior Cameron Johnson, who scored a total of 6,450 points out of 10,000 possible, Roshell said.
“Jim and I are both very proud of our team. It’s an absolute privilege to work with these students throughout the Academic Decathlon season. We both look forward to next year,” he said.
Elk Mound’s Academic Decathlon team won first place in Division 3 of the Wisconsin Academic Decathlon in Wisconsin Dells in 2015-2016. The theme was India.
This year’s first place winner in Division 3 was Durand, and the second place school in Division 3 was Winneconne.
First place in Division 1 was Watertown, with second place going to Waukesha West and third place going to Green Bay Preble.
First place in Division 2 was Pewaukee High School. Second place went to New Berlin Eisenhower High School, and third place was New Richmond High School.
First place in Division 4 was Melrose-Mindoro High School. Second place was Marathon High School, and third place went to Dodgeland High School.
In the Super Quiz Relay, first place went to Wilmot Union High School. Second place was Marathon High School, and third place was Dodgeland High School.
The overall state champion, Wilmot Union, will compete in the national finals in Bloomington, Minnesota, April 25-27.
The next highest scoring team in a different division from the state champion, Green Bay Preble, also earned the opportunity to compete at the national competition in Minnesota

