The Academic Decathlon (AcDec) team is headed to state again this year.

In the regional competition on Saturday, Jan. 25, the class of nine competed.

The following team members won medals at the regional competition on Saturday:

Gold medal for first place in essay, varsity division: Senior Iza Gomez

Bronze medal for fourth place in essay, scholastic division: Senior Nicole Wright

Gold medal for first place in speech, honors division: Senior Rishabh Kothari

The competition consists of seven multiple-choice tests, two performance events and an essay. Teams generally consist of nine members, who are divided into three divisions based on grade point average. Each team member competes in all ten events against other students in his or her division. Gomez was not expecting to win an award.

“I wasn’t even looking up when they were calling the names,” said Gomez. “My friend started pointing, saying, ‘Look, you won.’”

This year marks Gomez’s second year in the class, just like Kothari.

“I was very excited going into the class,” said Kothari. “It is not like a traditional class were you focus on one subject. There are a lot of various subjects, which is interesting because you get to focus on the details.”

Wright, winner of the Bronze Medal in speech, was nervous for the competition.

“I was a little nervous because I wasn’t sure of how I would do, but I knew that we had practicde hard and read up on our material,” said Wright. “I had the security of knowing that we helped each other out as much as we could have.”

The state contest will take place Feb. 20-23 in San Antonio.

“We are looking to improve in your weaker subjects and excel in subjects we are confident in,” said Kothari.

State team members to compete:

Honors category: Helen He, Rishabh Kothari, and Sriram Ravula

Scholastic category: Christian Phan, Lauren Vanderslice, and Nicole Wright

Varsity category: Iza Gomez, Ashlan Hayden, and Adam Saldivar