Members of Dobie's state championship academic decathlon team: (top) Ed Gonzalez, Eddie Nunez, Tad Walters, Quinn Velasquez and Julian Hernandez; (middle) Coach Steven Higginbotham, Jeremy Morris, Mark Admani and Coach Todd Geries; (bottom) Jessica Huynh and Katey Miille.
Senior Nunez Leads Horns With Highest State Score Ever
Heavily favored Dobie High School won the Texas Academic Decathlon championship last weekend for the first time since 2003, earning the right to bid later this spring for the school's third national title.
Dobie senior Eddie Nunez led the Longhorn charge by winning the varsity category and posting the highest score in state varsity competition history. Nunez captured nine of the 33 individual medals won by the Longhorns.
Dobie also finished first in the Super Quiz portion of the meet, which was held at Coronado High School in El Paso.
Pasadena High, which finished a surprising fifth in regional competition, finished 39th at state. The Eagles finished 27th in the Super Quiz and posted a 500-point improvement over their regional score.
The Dobie team is coached by Steven Higginbotham and Todd Geries. Higginbotham competed as a Dobie student in 1995 under the guidance of master decathlon coach Richard Golenko.
Golenko led the Longhorns to national championships in 1992 and 1996.
Dobie will compete for its third national title April 27-30 in Charlotte, N.C.
The Longhorns piled up 50,469.7 points to easily hold off runner-up Seven Lakes High School.
Dobie seniors dominated the major score categories. Mark Admani took second place in varsity with Tad Walters finishing fourth. Katey Miille took fourth in the scholastic category while Jessica Huynh posted the high team score.
Among other local schools Clear Brook finished fourth, Pearland fifth and Deer Park 34th.
"This would not have been possible," Higginbotham said, "without the amazing support from so many teachers and administrators along the way."
A rundown of Dobie's individual medals:
Eddie Nunez: Gold Decathlon Varsity, Gold Economics Varsity, Gold Language Literature Varsity, Gold Mathematics Varsity, Gold Music Varsity, Gold Social Science Varsity, Silver Art Varsity, Silver Speech Overall, Silver Speech Varsity.
Tad Walters: Bronze Interview Overall, Bronze Speech Overall, Bronze Speech Varsity, Gold Art Varsity, Gold Essay Overall, Gold Essay Varsity, Silver Interview Varsity.
Mark Admani: Bronze Essay Varsity, Silver Economics Varsity, Silver Language Literature Varsity, Silver Music Varsity, Silver Social Science Varsity.
Jeremy Morris: Gold Social Science Honors, Gold Social Science Overall, Silver Economics Honors, Silver Economics Overall.
Ed Gonzalez: Bronze Music Overall, Bronze Super Quiz Overall, Gold Music Scholastic, Silver Super Quiz Scholastic.
Katey Miille: Silver Art Scholastic, Silver Music Scholastic.
Julian Hernandez: Gold Interview Scholastic, Silver Interview Overall.
