Casa Grande best in state -- again

History repeats itself as team wins Academic Decathlon

March 22, 2006

By DANE GOLDEN
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF

Maybe these kids are too hard on themselves.

As the winners were being announced Sunday in the three-day Academic Decathlon competition in Los Angeles, the nine members of the Casa Grande team were denigrating their chances.

Since none of the individual event winners were announced until the awards ceremony at the end of the weekend, students could only guess how they did until the very end.

It turns out the perennial champs were too hard on themselves. They won the whole thing. Again.

Longtime coach Rick Pillsbury's students have won six of the last seven state championships in the Division II category.

Casa Grande was behind in points for most of the competition, but came back during the speech and interview competition on Saturday, the second day.

During Sunday's medal ceremony, as individual winners of each category were announced, the school did not seem to be winning enough medals to garner enough points for the overall championship.

So, as the final winners were about to be announced, the team's spirits were not high, despite its track record.

"We thought if we were in the top three, that would be really great," said Pillsbury, a calculus and physics teacher. "When we (found that we) weren't third, we had almost given up hope of finishing in the top three."

But later, Casa Grande was announced as the overall winner and State Division II champions.

"They were elated," Pillsbury said.

"It was very close," Pillsbury said.

In addition to winning another state championship, Casa Grande also has won 22 straight regional championships, 21 under Pillsbury. There were eight seniors plus one junior, Eddie Anzore, on the team. The team met as a 29-member class from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Monday nights.

The time is a little unusual for the class, Pillsbury said, but added, "Our students are so impacted with taking the classes they need (during the school day), they couldn't fit it in."

The late time also allowed for student-athlete participation. This year's valedictorian, Emily Lindquist, was also the girl's basketball team's starting center and could not have participated if the program had overlapped with basketball practice.

The team also watched art videos each Thursday at lunch.

Each nine-member Academic Decathlon team must consist of three students with grade point averages of 3.75 and above, three with GPAs of 3.0 to 3.74 and three with grades below 3.0.

Pillsbury said the Academic Decathlon class is often most rewarding for the lower GPA students, who Pillsbury sometimes recruits for the program. He said they often appreciate the team spirit that takes place in the group, and generally have greater interest because it's something they choose to participate in.

And that success and empowerment often helps to carry them through life.

"Struggling students can go on to do wonderful things," Pillsbury said.

During the competition, each student competed in economics, essay, art, interview, language and literature, math, music, science, social science and speech.

Last weekend's contest included 55 schools.

Senior Emma Drew, an Argus-Courier columnist and blogger, had the highest total score on the team. She won a bronze medal in the honors art history category by correctly answering questions about northern Renaissance artist Jan van Eyck, among others. She was also pleased with her improvement over her regional competition performance in the speech and interview events.

But Drew credited the overall team effort as the key to its success.

"You have to be proud of every single team member," she said.

(Contact Dane Golden at dgolden@arguscourier.com)

ACADEMIC DECATHLON MEDALISTS

(Also includes individual medals)

HONORS

Emma Drew: art history, bronze

Audrey Fry: literature, bronze

Emily Lindquist: team member

SCHOLASTIC

Eddie Anzore: mathematics, gold; music, silver

Matt Brooks: interview, silver; science, silver

Josh Luther: literature, gold

VARSITY

David Johnson: mathematics, gold; science, silver; economics, bronze; music, bronze; speech, bronze

David Shenosky: speech, bronze; art history, bronze

Mary Thornton: music, bronze

NOTE: Rick Pillsbury's Academic decathlon team is a good place to start if a student wants to go on to a successful career. One such success story is former Casa Grande academic decathlete Motoko Rich, who competed on the 1987 team. She went on to attend Yale and Cambridge, and now reports on the publishing industry for the New York Times.