Lathrop High School

Lathrop High School
School Founded	1955
Team Established	1987 by Tom Richards
History	Lathrop has the most Alaska Academic Decathlon state championships with 15, and is the only school ever to have broken 43,000 at the State Competition
City	Fairbanks, Alaska
Team Colors	Purple and gold
Principal	Neil Hecht
Head Coach	Chris Benshoof
Associate/Other Head Coach(es)	Kyle VanHatten
National Championships	None
State Championships	16: 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
Regional/County Championships	19: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
Region/County Location	Fairbanks
Highest Finish	9th (1st in Division II): 2024 Nationals
School Website	https://www.k12northstar.org/lathrop

School Profile

Lathrop High School is the oldest school in Fairbanks, Alaska, and serves the eastern part of the Fairbanks area. It is named after Alaskan businessman Austin E. "Cap" Lathrop (1865-1950). It first became strong in Academic Decathlon in the 1999-2000 season, and has been one of the top teams in the state since then, winning 16 state titles in the past 25 years (as of 2024). The coach is Chris Benshoof, a 2001 Lathrop graduate and a statistics, computer science, and engineering teacher at Lathrop.

Lathrop achieved some of its highest scores ever during the 2007 season, but was narrowly defeated by West Valley High School at both regionals and state. It was again defeated by West Valley at both regionals and state in 2008, but came back to win regionals and state by a wide margin in 2009. At 2009 nationals, Patricia Gerdes placed 3rd in Division II Honors, earning Lathrop's first individual overall medal. Lathrop won the Alaska state competition again in 2010. At nationals, Patricia Gerdes placed 2nd in Division II Scholastic with 8,247.8 points, the highest score ever achieved by a Lathrop Decathlete up until that point.

The 2018 State Competition saw Lathrop senior Grace Martin break Lathrop's overall record with a score of 8,351.0. Jeremiah Malenfant also notably broke Lathrop's record for first-time competitor with a score of 7,801.9. In the following 2019 State Competition, Lathrop would break several records. Lathrop had all 8 of it's offical members in the top 4 for each division , breaking West Valley's record of 7 (2015) and earning $19,000 in scholarships. Kyle VanHatten, Carson Kegley, and Jacob Lotze were the top-scoring competitors for Honors, Scholastic, and Varsity. Both Jacob and Carson also achieved this is during their first year of competition.This was the first time in Alaskan State History that one school had the top Honors, Scholastic, and Varsity students. Alongside Carson in the top three for the Scholastic division were Marcus Lengel ( 2nd) and his twin brother Camden (3rd). This is only the third time that a school has earned the top three spots in a division( the others being West Valley 2015 State , and Lathrop 2006 State), and was the first time that it had been achieved in the scholastic division. The team also achieved the highest State score in Alaskan history with a Score of 43,493.9. This score led to the largest recorded score gap in Alaskan history, with Lathrop leading over second place IDEA by 6878.5 points. Lathrop also broke it's medal record of 55 total, earning 96 total medals(55 individuals). 20 of these medals were gold, and Lathrop got one or more gold medals in every subject. At 2019 Nationals, Lathrop produced it's best nationals performance. Lathrop got a record 18 medals, and every team member earned a medal. In addition to this, Lathrop broke it's superquiz record ( by percentage) with 42/54, and managed to get Lathrop's first SuperQuiz Gold. Their placement of 15th overall also set a school record. While their score of 42,697 did decrease, it is the highest Lathrop has ever performed at Nationals, it is the first time Lathrop has managed to break the 40,000 barrier, and is the third highest Nationals performance that an Alaskan team has ever produced. Also, Carson Kegley notably got 2nd in Division II scholastic, matching Patty Gerde's achivement in placement. 2020 Regionals was another great competition for Lathrop. Kyle VanHatten, Luke Martin, and Daisy Morotti were the top scoring Honors, Scholastic, and Varsity respectively. Kyle VanHatten, Henry Haas, and Victor Zhou were the the top 3 Honors at the competition, and broke the record for highest average regionals honors and highest average counting honors. Henry Haas became the highest scoring first-competition/first-year Decathlete in Alaskan History with a score of 8314, and Kyle VanHatten broke the school overall record with a score of 8748.5. At 2020, Lathrop once again dominated. After 21 years. Lathrop broke the state win record and surpassed West Valley with their 12th state win. Lathrop became the first school in Alaskan history to score over 40,000 for three consecutive years. Lathrop earned 2 speech showcases and 7 scholarships. Kyle VanHatten, Wesley Theis, and Daisy Morotti were the top scoring Honors, Scholastic, and Varsity respectively. Kyle, Wesley and Daisy earned 9 event medals. Lathrop also broke its superquiz record (by percentage) with 30/36. Lathrop also managed to literally clear the table and have every teammate earn a medal in Social Science. This helped Lathrop to a new high of 59 event medals, and a tied 96 total medals. Henry Haas earned 7 medals, 5 of which were gold, and broke the Lathrop Objective record with 6,400. Kyle VanHatten scored 8940.1, a new Lathrop record, the highest state competition score in Alaskan history, and the second highest score in Alaskan history.Together, Kyle and Henry became the highest scoring Honors countering-pair beating out the previous record of Atticus Geiger and Raymond Hogenson from 2015 State. In the 2021 season Lathrop continued this pattern of success. Lathrop won the state championship for the 13th time, tied West Valley's record for three consecutive state championships, and became the first team in Alaska History to score over 40,000 at the state competition for four years in a row. Lathrop also had their most successful nationals performance ever. Lathrop placed third in Division II. This came after several fourth place finishes at previous national competitions. Lathrop also placed 11th overall as a team at the competition. Ayden Accola won a national championship in Math, as did Kyle VanHatten. Jeffrey Goddard earned a championship in interview. Additionally, Lathrop had two top three individual overall finishes, with Ayden Accolla earning third in varsity, and Kyle VanHatten earning second in Honors .

Lathrop historically traded off wins with its cross-town rival West Valley High School, consistently being one of the top teams in the state. It placed first or second every year from 2000 to 2014, and from 2016-2024, including earning the longest state championship streak with their six wins from 2019-2024. In 2015 Lathrop took it's first 3rd place in 16 years (1999).

The Lathrop team has gone undefeated in Alaska (Regional and State competitions) for the past six years and won the Division 2 national competition in the 2023-2024 Academic Decathlon season.

Record Board

Overall Team: 2019 State - 43,494

Total Medals: 2022 State - 109

Overall Honors: Kyle VanHatten, 2020 State - 8,940.1

Overall Scholastic: Patricia Gerdes, 2010 Nationals - 8,247.8

Overall Varsity: Benjamin Pilon, 2022 State - 7,724.7

Performance Chart

Year	Regionals Score	Regionals Rank	State Score	State Rank	Nationals Score	Nationals Rank	National Individual Medal Count
2024	41,247.9	1	42,531.1	1	40,167.9	9	36
2023	36,227.2	1	40,054.3	1	38,270.8	15	26
2022	40,314.7	1	42,589.7	1	39,423	9	24
2021	36,832	1	40,075.2	1	39,968.8	11	12
2020	38,580	1	40,524.7	1	(Cancelled)	(Cancelled)
2019	39,563	1	43,493.9	1	42,697.0	15	18
2018	35,747	1	41,987.1	2	DNC	DNC	DNC
2017	33,361.2	1	38,856.9	1	38,558.4	18	18
2016	34,448.9	1	36,470.5	2	DNC	DNC	DNC
2015	34,867.9	2	38,784.0	3	DNC	DNC	DNC
2014	34,180	2	38,786.2	1	36,483.0	27	2
2013	33,034.7	1	36,154.6	2	DNC	DNC	DNC
2012	33,915	2	38,025.7	1	37,732.2	18	0
2011	~34,700	1	36,853.7	2	DNC	DNC	DNC
2010	36,461.2	1	38,470.7	1	38,371.1	16
2009	33,760.1	1	37,251.9	1	36,724.1	23
2008	35,440.6	2	38,676.5	2	DNC	DNC	DNC
2007	39,452.5	2	42,776.9	2	DNC	DNC	DNC
2006	37,181.0	1	37,967.4	1	36,586.5	23	1
2005	37,528.0	1	37,895.1	2	DNC	DNC	DNC
2004	?	2	40,687.3	1	39,887.6	17	3
2003	36,761	1	38,136.6	1	38,008.7	17	0
2002	35,021	1		2	DNC	DNC	DNC
2001		1	36,000+	1	33,585	33	1
2000	37,270	1	40,086	1	37,510	25	0

Team Awards

Year	Mr./Ms. AcaDeca	Leadership Award	Service Award	National MVP
2024	Jeffrey Goddard	Lehansa Fernando	Tayton Aiken Brice	Tayton Aiken Brice
2023	Jimmy Evans	Henry Simoneau	Marais Anderson	Jimmy Evans
2022	Benjamin Pilon	John Haas	Gus Roselius	Benjamin Pilon
2021	Kyle VanHatten	Ayden Accola	Benjamin Pilon	Ayden Accola
2020	Daisy Morotti	Kyle VanHatten	Henry Haas	N/A
2019	Jacob Lotze	Kyle VanHatten	Camden Kegley	Jacob Lotze
2018	Grace Martin	Kyle VanHatten	Andrew Parker	N/A
2017	Darin Cheney	Abigail Boyle	Grace Martin	N/A
2016
2015
2014	Christine Frandsen
2013
2012
2011
2010	Patricia Gerdes
2009
2008	Meghan Packee
2007	Marie Sorensen	Kathleen Gerdes	Paul Sather
2006	David Leslie	Marie Sorensen	Lucas McDaniel
2005
2004	Dagan Durdik
2003	Connor Cole
2002	N/A
2001	N/A	Chris Benshoof	Pauline Fusco	N/A
2000	N/A	Chris Benshoof	Brant Rockney	N/A