Bandera High School

Bandera High School

• • We are a small school of about 700 students in the Texas Hill Country located west of San Antonio.

Bandera High School
Bandera High School logo
School Founded	1935
Team Established	1999
History
City	Bandera, Texas
Team Colors	Royal Blue & White
Principal	Patrick Sizemore
Head Coach	Dan Zavorka
Associate/Other Head Coach(es)	Yessenia Torres (2024 - ); Sarah Walker (2023-2024 ); Joe Cortez (2021-2023); Sheila Zavorka (2017-2021)
National Championships	2021 Division IV
State Championships	5 (Small) (2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022)
Regional/County Championships	6 (Small) (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021,2022)
Region/County Location	Region III
Highest Finish	2nd Place @ 2019 USAD National Finals - Division IV; 1st Place @ 2021 USAD National Finals - Division IV
School Website	banderaisd.net

Team Statistics and Scores

Round 1 Scrimmage

Year	Score [7-Count]
2025	17,368.3
2024	20,354.3
2023	19,734.3
2022	17,255.6
2021	28,175.9
2020	22,708.6
2019	24,582.8
2018	25,842.9
2017	20,431.5
2016	19,539.8

Regional Competition

Year	Region	Region Rank	Region Score
2025	III	3	32,735.0
2024	III	2	34,852.0
2023	III	2	33,780.8
2022	III	1	33,257.0
2021	III	1	45,583.9**
2020	III	1	41,250.3
2019	III	1	42,369.3
2018	III	1	43,105.0
2017	III	1	38,144.1
2016	III	3	38,572.8
2015	III	3	35,363.5

Texas Academic Decathlon State Finals

Year	Division	State Rank	State Score	State Indiv. Medal Count
2025	Small	DNQ	---
2024	Small	4	36,978.9
2023	Small	4	34.150.7
2022	Small	1	35,314.3	33
2021	Small	1	45,184.1	41
2020	Small	1	42,122.2	40
2019	Small	1	42,349.8	38
2018	Small	2	44,478.2	40
2017	Small	1	38,664.7	28
2016	Small	3	39,322.5	17
2015	Small	4	31,597.9	9

USAD National Finals

Year	Division	National Rank	National Score	National Indiv. Medal Count	National Super Quiz	Other
2022	medium	5	24,140.5^	9
2021	IV	1	42,688.4	26	1
2020	IV	Cancelled*	Cancelled*	Cancelled*	Cancelled*
2019	IV	2	41,298.5	15	2	Rookie of the Year

^ without subjective scores

Notes

1. The 2020 USAD National Finals were CANCELLED due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

2. The 2021 TAD Regional Competition was deemed UNOFFICIAL due to Technical Errors.

Top Ranking Students

Top Scores

Year	Honors	Score	Scholastic	Score	Varsity	Score
2025 Round 2	Samuel Bottoms	6,801.4	Haily Sturgis	5,228.2	Marialena Andujar	5816.1
2025 Round 1	Samuel Bottoms	7,202.5	Haily Sturgis	5,076.4	Journey Garcia	5.025.0
2024 Round 3	William "Ozzie" Knowles	7,640.4	Raegan Derrick	5,740.0	Steven Koonce	6,247.5
2024 Round 2	William "Ozzie" Knowles	7,634.3	Raegan Derrick	5,620.7	Steven Koonce	5,859.3
2024 Round 1	William "Ozzie" Knowles	7,855.7	Raegan Derrick	5,161.8	Luke Polancos	5,214.3
2023 Round 3	Cassandra Steffler	6,946.4	Laurel Morsi	5,783.2	Lilli Whidden	5,286.0
2023 Round 2	William "Ozzie" Knowles	6,710.8	Laurel Morsi	4,955.0	Lilli Whidden	5,449.9
2023 Round 1	William "Ozzie" Knowles	7,273.9	Brooke Bankston	4,367.3	Emily Ramos	5,286.0
2022 Round 4^	William "Ozzie" Knowles	4,427.2	Laurel Morsi	3,885.5	Chandler Knowes	4,882.0
2022 Round 3	William "Ozzie" Knowles	6,580.4	Laurel Morsi	5,601.7	Chandler Knowles	6,490.0
2022 Round 2	William "Ozzie" Knowles	6,277.0	Laurel Morsi	5,314.8	Chandler Knowles	6,031.0
2022 Round 1	Savannah Venegas	5,703.0	Emily Ramos	5,035.0	Chandler Knowles	6,309.28
2021 Round 4	Luke Bitzkie	8,580.0	Rebecca Ellingson	7,017.2	Samuel Nimmrichter	6,671.6
2021 Round 3	Eleanor McKnelly	9,056.7	Rebecca Ellingson	7,868.6	Samuel Nimmrichter	6,342.9
2021 Round 2	Eleanor McKnelly	9,353.8	Rebecca Ellingson	7,880.0	Samuel Nimmrichter	6,713.3
2021 Round 1	Eleanor McKnelly	8,946.6	Rodrigo Gutierrez Gonzalez	7,001.3	Samuel Nimmrichter	6,301.4
2020	Eleanor McKnelly	8,793.4	Rebecca Ellingson	7,544.0	Samuel Nimmrichter	6,459.4
2019	Davis McMullan	7,460.0	Catherine Martin	7,656.1	Ashley Abitz	7,265.7
2018	Blake Kromer	8,973.4	David Guzman	7,241.1	Matthew Houser	8,013.3
2017	Blake Kromer	7,178.6	Joshua Ellingson	7,123.6	Matthew Houser	6,718.6
2016	Blake Kromer	7,377.1	Emilee Mason	6,758.6	Matthew Houser	6,868.8
2015	Katelyn Randolph	6,883.7	Elizabeth Powers	5,915.2	Emilee Mason	6,115.7

• Top Ranking Student Scores are Recorded for the Competition Year (either Region, State, or National Score)

^ without subjective scores

State (and National) Individual High-Scoring Scholarship Recipients

Year	1st individual	2nd Individual	3rd Individual	4th Individual	5th Individual	Nationals	Scholarship values
2024		Steven Koonce		Luke Polanco	William "Ozzie" Knowles		2,450
2023			Cassandra Steffler	William "Ozzie" Knowles	Laurel Morsi		2,250
2022	Chandler Knowles		Riley Longobardi, Christopher Pallesen	William "Ozzie" Knowles	Laurel Morsi	Chandler Knowles - Second	17,250
2021	Eleanor McKnelly, Rebecca Ellingson, Samuel Nimmrichter	Luke Bitzkie, Rodrigo Gutierrez Gonzalez			Riley Longobardi	Samuel Nimmrichter - First, Luke Bitzkie - Second, Eleanor McKnelly - Third, Rebecca Ellingson - Third	24,000
2020	Eleanor McKnelly, Rebecca Ellingson, Samuel Nimmrichter	Luke Bitzkie, Ethan Ellingson	Hannah Bates	Samantha Rubalcava		Nationals was cancelled - prior to cancellation we were the D-4 team from Texas	22,000
2019	Davis McMullan, Catherine Martin, Ashley Abitz	Hannah Bates	Carma Cloudt, Ethan Ellingson			Ashley Abitz - First	28,300
2018	Blake Kromer, Matthew Houser	Lane Hadley	Zackery Nordquist	David Guzman			19,200
2017	Matthew Houser	Joshua Ellingson, Zackery Nordquist		Lane Hadley			20,300
2016	Matthew Houser			Emilee Mason	Elizabeth Powers		9,750
2015			Emilee Mason				1,500