Oakwood academic team looks to defend national title
The Oakwood High School Academic Decathlon team is heading to the national competition to defend its divisional title again.
The OHS team earned its way to next month’s contest — the first in-person nationwide championship of its kind since 2019 — with its 13th Ohio title this past weekend at John Carroll University.
The OHS team won its 10th consecutive divisional national title last year.
The U.S. Academic Decathlon Nationals are scheduled for April 27-29 in Frisco, Texas, according to the organization. The team earned its way this year by winning the 12th regional title for the school last month.
This year’s team members are: Isak Autrey, Ian Brooks, Alayna Brown, Ainsley Burton, Isaac Callahan,
Jack Campbell, Wright Chen, Alex Devgan, Brian Fischer, Ty Fischer, Jack Foley, Nic Frank, Ryan Frank, Ethan Ha, Rohan Haack, Joseph Hong, Elena Kallenberg, Max Kiernan, Srinidhi Krishnamoorthy, Charli Kulka, Zachary Ludwig, Tony Orsello, Elias Phillips, Michael Ritschel, Brandon Roche, Angie Rodriguez, McKenzie Russell, Abbie Saxen, Grace Stafford, Will Steipp, Danny Vásconez, Daniel Wang, Anna Weaver, Sofia Wiegand, Elena Zois, Sia Zois, and Alez Zhang.
The team has been coached for years by English teacher Lori Morris.
Last year at nationals, OHS team members earned eight out of the nine top spots in Division III for overall individual cumulative scores, according to the school district.
That competition featured 48 U.S. teams, plus about 10 teams from China, Morris has said. It was scored based on speeches, tests and interviews, she said.