John Paul Stevens High School

John Paul Stevens High School
[[Image:|center||John Paul Stevens High School logo]]
School Founded	2005
Team Established	2007
History	Stevens has qualified for State 4 consecutive years starting in 2011, with a 21st place at State in 2014 being the highest for the school since the teams founding
City	San Antonio, Texas
Team Colors	Red, Black and Silver
Principal	Harold Maldonado (2005 - Present)
Head Coach	Mark Larson (2013 - Present)
Associate/Other Head Coach(es)	Diana Piña-Hernandez, Mike Lyons, Dori Peterson, Robert Rubio
National Championships	None
State Championships	None
Regional/County Championships	None
Region/County Location	Region IV
Highest Finish	21st in 2014 State Competition
School Website	{{{website}}}

John Paul Stevens High School, is a school located in San Antonio, Texas.

Basic Info

John Paul Stevens High School is a four year high school in Northside Independent School District (NISD) located in San Antonio, Texas. Relatively new to the Academic Decathlon scene Stevens Decathlon has grown year to year with new tradition of success beginning under the Leadership of 2010-2012 head coach Ruben Pena, and carrying on through Stevens newest head coach, Maria Cisneros.

2007-2009

Records of Stevens Academic Decathlon team throughout the 2007-2009 period are unknown, leaving the only information regarding the team to be the 2007 Regional score and placing. The 2007 team scored 26,182 points, making them the 24th placed Large school at the 2007 regional competition. Not having information on the other scores from this period, combined with the low scores of the 2007 season, we will regard this period, as The Dark Age of Stevens Decathlon.

2010-2012

The 2010 season saw the upward swing of Stevens Decathlon into the path of success, introducing a new Head Coach, Ruben Pena, with his Assistant Coach Michael Lyons. In 2010 Stevens had their best placing in Regional competition to record with a score of 35,649 and a 4th place finish behind Louis D. Brandeis H.S., Tom C. Clark H.S. and Sandra Day O'Conner H.S. (3rd, 2nd and 1st place respectively). Success continued to follow Stevens Decathlon team entering the 2011 season. With returning faces in Juniors Riley Egger and Kennedy Hatfield, along with Senior Michael Phelps Stevens looked to climb the ladder to 1st place. Living up to the expectations Stevens High School Senior Michael Phelps lead the team, earning 1st Place Overall Scholastic at the Regional competition with fellow Senior Jonathan Jordan scoring just behind Michael, but in the Honors category. With this leadership Stevens scored a total of 36,844 and placed 2nd at the Regional Competition behind O'Conner H.S. The most significant aspect of the 2011 season was Stevens making their first appearance at State competition, entering as the 25th ranked team. At State competition Stevens took a fall in rank, finishing with a higher score of 37,419 but a lower rank of 32nd- in a shocking upset though Stevens was able to finish tied for 3rd place at the State competition Super Quiz Relay, by far the schools greatest accomplishment to date. At the 2011 State competition, Stevens was lead by Senior Jonathan Jordan, scoring the highest for the team and moving ahead of his in-class rival Michael. 2012 looked to be a even brighter year for Stevens Decathlon, returning seniors Riley Egger, Kennedy Hatfield, Sylvia "Patty" Dominguez, Ian Bernard, Victor Encarnacion and Junior Phillip Graham - along with the addition of a new coaching, Assistant Coach Karla Martinez. Stevens moved on to the Regional Competition with high hopes but were soon daunted with the strength of the 2nd place Warren team and 1st place O'Conner teams, leaving Stevens to finish 3rd at Regionals with a score of 36,816. Lead by senior Ian Bernard, who placed as the 1st Overall Varsity at the Regional Competition and Riley Egger who placed as the 2nd Overall Scholastic at Regional Competition, Stevens again moved onto the State Competition as the 30th ranked team. Again the Stevens team found it difficult to hold onto their position coming into State and fell from 30th, finishing 31st. For the first time ever Stevens saw 2 Decathlete place in events at the State level- Sylvia "Patty" Dominguez placing 2nd Essay in the Varsity category and Ian Bernard placing 1st in both Super Quiz and Language and Literature in the Varsity Category. On top of the accomplishments of both Sylvia and Ian, the team was lead at the State Compeition by junior Phillip Graham, recording the highest score at State for Stevens of that year. Entering the 2013 season Stevens looked forward to what they believed would be their best chance at a 1st place finish in the Region but in a shocking twist Head Coach Ruben Pena was schedule to leave to Marshall High School, bringing an end to the Pena Period at Stevens High School.

2012-2013

With the departure of Head Coach Ruben Pena the future looked cloudy for the Stevens Decathlon team coming forward to the 2013 season, but the bad news didn't stop there, it was then announced that long time Assistant Coach Michael Lyons was to retire form coaching. While things did look bleek, Stevens continued to move forward, hoping that under the leadership of new Head Coach, Maria Cisneros and new Assistant Coach Diana Pina they could continue success. The 2013 team only returned 3 Decathletes from the 2012 team- seniors Jay Adames, Phillip Graham and junior Kiana Burciaga. In addition to the complications of transitioning between new coaches, Stevens faced the troubles of a fairly inexperienced team and worse of all entered the School Year with only 1 varsity. As the Regional Competition approached Stevens was able to add two more Varsities to the roster to fill the team, unfortunately though one of the Varsities was unable to participate at Regional Competition due to ineligibility. Despite these hardships senior leaders Jay Adames and Phillip Graham were able to carry Stevens forward- with Jay earning 1st Overall Scholastic and Phillip 3rd Overall Honors. Stevens finished 4th at the Regional Competition, their lowest finish since the 2010 season, with a total score of 36,366- just enough points to spring them into their 3rd consecutive birth to State Competition at 39th place. At State Competition Stevens was able to climb the ladder despite the teams score falling to 35,036 and finished 38th in State. Stevens only had 1 Decathlete place in an event at the State Competition, junior Jesus Garza place 3rd Scholastic in Interview. The 2013 State team was lead by Senior Jay Adames who recorded the highest score for the team at the State Competition. Stevens moves forward to the 2014 season with a host of returning members including to be Seniors Jesus Garza, Kiana Burciaga, Elizabeth Trujillo, Christina Gonzales, and to be Junior Sydney Harris- and with what is to be believed as the strongest recruiting class Stevens has had to date,Stevens looks to make one more run for 1st in Region.

2013-Present

Following another departure of a head coach, Maria Cisneros, the Stevens Decathlon team resorted to new head coach, Mark Larson, as the person who would lead the team to a new State experience. With the return of only three decathletes, seniors Jesus Garza & Kiana Burciaga and junior Sydney Harris, the newly recruited team had to overcome the introduction to the Academic Decathlon experience. By the approaching date of the Regional competition, the team consisted of Varsities: seniors Jazmine Caicedo, Kiana Burciaga, and Mauricio Garcia; Scholastics: seniors Xandria Quichocho, Raymond Borrego, and Joshua Ratta; and Honors: seniors, Allison Skinkle & Jesus Garza and junior Syndey Harris. Surprising results came at the Champion High School hosted Regional competition as the students placed above expectations. In the Varsity division, the surprise was highly unexpected with seniors Kiana Burciaga and Mauricio Garcia obtaining second and first place overall, respectively; along with the overall placements, senior Joshua Ratta placed 4th overall in the Scholastics division and junior Sydney Harris place 5th overall in the Honors division. These placements led to a 2nd place in Regionals qualifying in the 21st spot in the state . San Antonio being host of the 2014 Academic Decathlon State Competition, high expectations for the local teams of John Paul Stevens and Earl Warren Academic Decathlon. After a long weekend of competition, the Stevens team obtained their first Honors State medal as Jesus Garza placed 3rd in Speech. Also, senior Joshua Ratta obtained 2nd place in Social Science in the Scholastics division. Lastly, senior Mauricio Garcia obtained a 1st place Mathematics medal in the Varsity division. The school came in 21st place, becoming their highest placement at the State competition ever. However, the possible return of Maria Cisneros, as the head coach, and the departure of eight of the nine members of the Decathlon team with only future senior Sydney Harris being a returning member are factors that might affect the future of the team.