February 19, 2010
Memorial academic decathlon takes fourth straight state win
By PAUL R. LEINGANG (Message editor)
The Memorial High School Academic Decathlon team won its fourth straight state championship this past weekend. The competition was held at Purdue University on Feb. 12 and 13.
In addition to the team honors four individuals placed in the overall competition. Tom DeCasta won Gold, Katlynn Loschen won Silver, and Stephen Collins and Jillian Belmonte won Bronze in the overall.
Overall champions are determined by combining the scores from all ten events, and this represents a major accomplishment by the competitors from Memorial.
As a team Memorial won five of the 10 events outright in competition against nine other teams. Those events were Science, Art, Music, Economics and Superquiz — a special category that features an in-depth look a specialized topic each year. This year it was the French Revolution.
In addition to team competition, each of the nine team members compete as individuals in each of the 10 subjects covered in the competition.
Subjects and awards are as follow:
- Speech — Tom DeCastra, Gold
- Interview — Kevin Thomas, Gold; Corinne Casino, Silver
- Science — Tom DeCastra, Gold; Katlynn Loschen, Gold
- Math — Sam Dippel, Silver; Stephen Collins, Silver; Corinne Casino, Silver; Katlynn Loschen, Bronze
- Art — Jillian Belmonte, Silver; Tom DeCastra, Silver; Danielle Harpe, Bronze
- Music — Kevin Thomas, Silver; Tom DeCastra, Silver
- Economics — Tom DeCastra, Gold
- Language and Literature — Danielle Harpe, Silver; Jillian Belmonte, Bronze
- Essay — Jillian Belmonte, Bronze; Katlynn Loschen, Bronze
Memorial won the right to compete at state by winning a regional competition at Madison High School on Jan. 23.
Overall competition place winners at the regionals included Drew Reising and Tom DeCastra with Gold Medals; Stephen Collins and Corinne Casino, Bronze.
Indiana has participated in this nationwide competition for 25 years, and Memorial High School is one of two teams that has qualified for state competition in each of those 25 years. The other school is also a Catholic school, Andrean High School in Merrillville, Ind.
The team is coached by Bob Exline, Carol Exline, Laura Ackerman and Kristi Carroll.