Casa Grande academic teams wins North Bay quiz competition

The beat and the pressure goes on for the Casa Grande High School Academic Decathlon team.

Casa Grande, for the 32nd consecutive year, won the Sonoma County Academic Decathlon championship and also qualified for the California State Championships by winning the four-county North Bay Academic Decathlon competition.

Casa Grande’s 25 competitors won 69 individual medals and 18 team medals that included a gold medal for a first-place finish in the Super Quiz.

Casa Grande totaled 49,800 points in the competition, followed by St. Helena, 48,500; Vanden, 41,000; and Petaluma, 39,500.

Casa Grande had the top four highest scoring students in the competition - Nico Carballal, Ram Goli, David Yen and Clare Killian. Killian, who also plays on the Casa Grande varsity basketball team, had the competition’s highest overall total.

Team members acknowledged that they felt the weight of continuing the school’s phenomenal success.

“There was a lot of pressure. We’ve had a run of 32 years and you don’t want to mess that up,” said team member David Yee.

“Our team was well prepared and performed extremely well under the pressure of the competition,” said Casa Grande coach Rick Pillsbury. “I am inspired by their confidence, work ethic, support of each other and their willingness to put themselves on the line for the team.”

And the Casa Grande AC-Dec team is just that - a team - even if it doesn’t get the same recognition as some of the school’s other teams.

“We don’t get the hype like other kinds of sports, but we put in the same hard work. We feel the same pressures and we feel the same joy when we win,” said Adian Healy, a team member.

The Casa Grande team members agreed that the wins aren’t something that just happens, but require hard work and study.

Goli said the team members are following the example set by their coach.

“Our success is a tribute to Mr. Pillsbury and all the time he pus in,” Goli said.

Pillsbury was especially proud of the success Casa Grande had in the speech competition.

“I was overjoyed with the quality of our speeches and the high number of speech medals we earned,” he said.

Several of the Casa Grande team members acknowledged that giving a speech was one of the most difficult elements of the competition.

“For me it was really hard. Before the competition I wouldn’t say my speech to anybody, not even Mr. Pillsbury,” said Yin Mei Chan. “But then I got a medal and it was such a great feeling.”

A win in the regional competition, keeps the streak alive, but there is much work ahead for the Casa Grande team as it prepares for the state competition in Sacramento on March 18-19 where it will go head-to-head with several powerhouse teams from Southern California that prepare for the competition year round.

Last year, Casa Grande was the top team from Northern California and finished 14th in the state competition. The goal this year is to be in the top 10 at state, team members said.

Casa Grande will send three teams to state. Each team consists of three Honors students (GPA of 3.75 to 4.0), three Scholastic students (3.0-3.75 GPA) and three Varsity (below 3.0 GPA).

Members of the team that competed in the Regional Championships were Yee, Goli, Killian, Carballal, Salem Ali, Tony Li, Chan, Saskia Van Ommeren-Eggberts, Omar Khan, Thomas Hancock, Zachery Esponda, Nicholas Eaton, Leo Zhang, Cody McGunagle, Blythe Abbey, Dylan Tyrell Smith, Amanda Chisholm, Kylie Houck, Jennifer Evans, David Holstedt, Nich Jensen, Cindy Wang, Satvika Madidadi, Erik Frisch and Aidan Healy.

To make the state trip possible, the team needs contributions from the community. The team budget is smaller than that of other school sports and activities at only around $6,000 a year, and the team must raise all its own money for study materials and competition entry fees. Contributions may be made to: Casa Academic Decathlon in care of Rick Pillsbury at Casa Grande High School.

(Contact John Jackson at johnie.jackson@arguscourier.com.)