The UIL District 9-5A competition took place at Lone Star High School over the weekend for competitors in academic events ranging from Science to Calculator Applications to Literary Criticism. More than 20 students placed at the competition with the Journalism, Science, Number Sense, Calculator Applications, and Accounting teams taking first overall.

“I am really proud of the individuals that were able to go onto Regionals,” AP U.S. History teacher and Social Studies coach Sam Young said. “They’ve all been working really hard so I’m excited for them. We’re all excited to compete at Regionals.”

The school’s UIL team to take overall sweepstakes with a total of 398 points beating out second place team Frisco HS with 224.33 points, giving the team a boost of confidence going into Regional competition.

“I’m also excited to see what surprises happen,” UIL academic coordinator Jeff Schrantz said. “Last year, our Number Sense team was not expected to get first or second as a team. Not only did we have a huge upset and win regionals, we ended up upsetting everyone again at state and winning state.  I’ll never forget my students faces when I shared those results with our team last year.”

Senior Visakh Madathil scored 20 points for the team, placing third in both Current Events and Social Studies.

“I am most excited for the opportunity to qualify for state,” Madathil said. “My hard work is paying off and it’s a great way to represent the school.”

Although students make compete individually, competitors including Senior Salman Kazmi, who placed second in Social Studies, see a clear camaraderie between UIL members.

“It’s great to see everyone from different events cheering you on,” Kazmi said. “They understand that every event is difficult in its own way and that, even though people maybe be smarter than others or whatever, they understand that each event is suited to each person individually.”

Regional qualifiers will compete in Nacogdoches on April 22 and 23. The breakdown of the competition and the competitors who place in each event is outlined below:

Contestants:

Teams: