PRIEST RIVER — Priest River Lamanna High School’s Academic Decathlon team placed first at state for the small school division and is off to nationals.

Last year, the Spartans lost to Marsing by a few hundred points to finish second, sending Marsing to nationals. This year, the Spartans beat Marsing by 1,100 points.

At the state competition, schools are put into divisions based on school size and are ranked as small, medium and large schools. The teams that place first in their division move on to nationals.

PRLHS AcaDeca will be competing in the small school division at nationals which will be held online this year. They will be competing against 49 other schools representing the other 49 states. Each team is allowed 15 students to compete, but not all schools, PRLHS included, have that many students on the team.

“We are all really excited to have reached our goals since last May — making it to nationals and being the first PRLHS team to do so,” Nikita Angel said.

Emile Johnson said that they have been preparing to win state for so long that they are not sure how to prepare for nationals.

At nationals, the essay and art portion of the competition will take place on March 31 and testing on other subjects will be April 22.

Ethan Korff said that he is nervous about the amount of schools they will be competing against.

Blake Miller said that having the competition remotely may help the Spartans compete, since they won’t have to recite their speeches in front of a large audience or be in a room of 100 students when taking their tests.

Not going to the competition physically is not as genuine as it would be in person, but will make the team less nervous than if they went in person, Miller said.

Caleb McDermeit agreed that being at school for the competition will allow the team to be more relaxed and focused.

Brayden Lamanna, the only freshman on the team, said that not seeing the students they will compete against makes the thought of nationals less stressful as well.

“Having other stressors across the year has helped me set goals to overcome and to set priorities,” Miller said.

By setting priorities and balancing the pressures of athletics, AcaDeca and school work, Miller and the rest of the team have been able to handle the pressure that comes with the end of the school year while studying for nationals.

Dylan Lord said that it has been great to be recognized in school and through the community for their accomplishments as a team.

“Principal George announced that we were going to nationals over the intercom,” he said.

Lord is hopeful that the success of the team will bring in more students to participate in AcaDeca. Six of the seven team members are juniors and hope that the team and its success will continue after they have graduated.

Classes in high school prepare students for AcaDeca, Miller said. If a new AcaDeca member focuses on just speech and interview, the other subjects will come naturally the further the student goes in their high school career.

“Science is alway tricky to work around, but having class experience builds over time,” he said. “Also pay attention to what you read in literature class. It will come back.”

AcaDeca teacher and coach Anne Barker-Simon said she is very proud of the students and is very humbled by how hard they have worked to get the scores needed to go to nationals. The credit for the team’s success belongs completely to the students' sense of teamwork and dedication.

Simon said that qualifying for nationals has been a rollercoaster ride and it is hard to come down from the high.

Simon said that she is happy to see good educational things coming out of the West Bonner County School District and PRLHS.

"I am very proud of the hard work and dedication of the entire team, they set this goal and worked hard to achieve it,"Paul Anselmo West Bonner County School District superintendent said.

Results from state

Ethan Korff – Scholastic Division: bronze, social science.

Brayden Lamanna — Varsity Division: gold, music; , bronze, economics.

Nikita Angel — Honors Division: silver, music, essay, speech.

Blake Miller – Varsity Division, Spirit Award; gold, speech; silver, literature, economics; bronze, math, essay.

Caleb McDermeit – Scholastic Division: gold, literature, math; silver, music, science, art; bronze, economics.

Emile Johnson — Honors Division: gold, music, art, math, social science; bronze, literatures, essay.

Dylan Lord — Varsity Division: gold, interview; silver, economics, art, speech; bronze, literature, science, math.

Overall score winners:

*Gold Medalist win a $300 scholarship

Bronze — Blake Miller

Silver — Caleb McDermeit

Gold —Dylan Lord *

Gold — Emile Johnson *