Oliver Wendell Holmes High School

Oliver Wendell Holmes/NSITE High School
[[Image:|center||Oliver Wendell Holmes/NSITE High School logo]]
School Founded	1964 (Holmes), 1991 (Business Careers, since renamed NSITE)
Team Established	1985-1986
History	Holmes won 15 of 17 Region IV titles from 1992-2008, one state title (1994) and five top five finishes.
City	San Antonio, Texas
Team Colors	Green, Gold, and White
Principal	Ada Bohlken
Head Coach	Diana Johnston, Diana Mills, Robert Stafford
Associate/Other Head Coach(es)
National Championships	None
State Championships	1, (1994)
Regional/County Championships	15 (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
Region/County Location	Region IV
Highest Finish	Third in National Finals (1994)
School Website	{{{website}}}

Oliver Wendell Holmes High School, is a school in San Antonio, TX and is part of the Northside Independent School District. First established in 1985-86, the Holmes/NSITE Academic Decathlon team experienced a high degree of success at the regional and state levels of competition, winning a region title each year from 1992 to 2008 except for 2000 (Converse Judson) and 2002 (Northside Taft). The Huskies also won a state title in 1994, competing in the National Finals that year and finishing in 3rd place. The Huskies also had five top-five finishes in the Large School category, finishing second in 2006, third in 2005, fourth in 1998 and fifth in 1995 and in 2007.

The Huskies, after a long period of qualifying for state and persistently ranking in the top ten, have made state only three times since 2009 - in 2011, 2016 and 2017.

Opening Years (1985-1993)

Holmes founded its first AD team, with Adriano M. Gonzalez as the coach in 1985-86. The team first qualified for state in 1988-1989. In 1991-1992, the Huskies won their first regional title, and would repeat as Region champions in 1993.

A State Title (1994)

In 1993-1994, Holmes exited the Region competitions as a Region Champion, and for the first time, had amassed a point total higher than the perennial State Championship powerhouse Richardson J.J. Pearce. At the State competition in Corpus Christi, Texas, Holmes faced off against teams from J.J. Pearce, Garland, Plano Senior, and Katy Taylor to win their first State Championship title in the Huskies' history. Holmes then received the chance to compete at the National level. Despite an excellent performance in the Super Quiz Relay, Holmes lost SuperQuiz (which was Relay-only until the late nineties) by a single question to teams from California William Howard Taft (who would win the national title that year) and Massachusetts. Holmes also became the first Texas team to finish Bronze (3rd).

Remaining Competitive (1995-1999)

1994-1995 saw the Huskies attempt to defend their state title. The Huskies won their sixth straight Regional title, but finished fifth at state, ending the repeat bid. The 1995-1996 and 1996-1997 resulted in continued success for the Huskies, with Holmes winning region and continuing to stay in the top ten. In 1998, the Huskies saw Angel Arellano win first place in the Varsity category at state and the team finished fourth at state. The Huskies followed up the 1997-1998 year with another Regional title in 1998-1999.

Regional Difficulties (1999-2002)

However, the Huskies' streak of regional titles would come to an end in 1999-2000, as Holmes lost the Region competition to Judson High School of Converse, Texas. Despite the setback, Holmes advanced to state based on score, and at the state competition finished higher than Judson in the rankings, but James E. Taylor of Katy retained the state title. 2001 saw the Region title return to Holmes, and Holmes finished tenth at state. One of the many bright spots for 2001 was when Holmes student Brad Goodine (a freshman), made the team, the first time a freshman competed on a Holmes AD team. 2001 also saw the arrival of Juliana Sanchez as one of the Holmes coaches.

2001-2002, however, was the opposite of 2001. Northside Taft would win the Region title, and the Huskies would have a challenging state competition finishing 19th at state. The 2001-2002 state competition also saw a legal challenge unfold regarding who won the state competition between Lubbock and J. Frank Dobie High School. In the end, the Texas Academic Decathlon's ruling that Lubbock won was upheld, and Lubbock represented the state at Nationals.

Rebounding and State Success (2003-2008)

In 2002-2003, Holmes won the Region title for the 12th time, and progressed to state, where the Huskies finished with just over 45,000 points and in sixth place. In 2003-2004, the Huskies saw four seniors return from the 2002-2003 team (Kristina McDonald, Shirley Field, Minh Tran and Charles Kirtland) joined by three juniors (Huy Nguyen and David Urrabazo, Jr.) and two sophomores (Joseph Bayond and Kort Jackson) to see Holmes win a second consecutive region title and a seventh place finish at state. In 2004-2005, the coaching team of Adriano Gonzalez, Juliana Sanchez, Vilma Lang and David Alvarado was joined by Sherrie Linstedt. All five returning members from the 2003-2004 team made the 2004-2005 team, and were joined by Senior Daniel Cassel, juniors April Ledesma and Jon-Ross Trevino and freshman Norman Bayona (who became the second ever Holmes academic decathlete to make the team as a freshman). The Huskies again won a regional title, and finished in third place among Large schools. James Hall would finish as the top Varsity in the state, and David Urrabazo, Jr. as the third-placed Scholastic.

The 2005-2006 season saw another period of improvement for the Huskies, adding Redmond-Craig Anderson, Lesly Espana, Lindsey Francesco and Michael Whitaker to the team to replace the graduating seniors (Hall, Urrabazo, Jr., Nguyen and Cassel) from 2004-2005. The season ended with a strong performance by the Huskies, with seven of the nine Decathletes finishing in the top five in their respective divisions at Regionals, winning another regional title and ultimately finishing second place at state in Large Schools, the Huskies best finish since their 1993-1994 state title. The 2006-2007 team also won Regionals and finished in the top five in state for the third consecutive year, finishing fifth. The Huskies would win another consecutive Regional title in 2007-2008 and finished ninth at state, with Norman Bayona winning 3rd place in the Varsity category in his senior year.

Rebuild (2009)

By the 2008-2009 year, Holmes had a long period of success winning regional titles and sought another regional title. However, by the regional competition, Holmes found itself in a tough situation with a surging team from district rival Earl Warren and Holmes finished third with Warren winning the regional title. Holmes still managed to qualify for state, but in 21st position. At state, Holmes finished in 24th, which became the lowest state ranking post-state competition at that time. Regardless, the team did achieve two prominent accomplishments: John Kim won second place in the Scholastic division, and Adriano Gonzalez won the Coach of The Year award.

The long road since (2009-Present)

After falling short in 2009 at Regionals and finishing 24th in State, the Huskies looked to regroup. However, the Huskies fell to 7th at Regionals in 2010, missing State for the first time since the eighties. The Huskies managed to advance to state again in 2011, finishing 30th. After 2011, the Huskies would not qualify for state again until 2016, finishing again in 30th.

The Huskies would go back-to-back in advancing to state, this time finishing in 27th (and surprisingly, finishing as the best Large School in Region IV at State that year).

In 2017-18, the Huskies made a valiant effort to qualify for state for the third consecutive year, but fell agonizingly short by a few hundred points, despite finishing in 3rd at Region.

Final Rankings

Year	Region Rank	Region Score	State Rank	State Score	Nationals Rank	Nationals Score
2018	3rd	38,264.8	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
2017	3rd	38,746.2	27th	38,442.3	DNQ	DNQ
2016	2nd	38,707.7	30th	40,062.9	DNQ	DNQ
2015	5th	30,516	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
2014	4th	34,835	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
2013	6th	31,696.3	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
2012	6th	32,068	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
2011	4th	34,499	30th	37,505.2	DNQ	DNQ
2010	7th	33,234	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
2009	3rd	39,708	24th	?	DNQ	DNQ
2008	CHAMPIONS	?	9th	44,300	DNQ	DNQ
2007	CHAMPIONS	?	5th	?	DNQ	DNQ
2006	CHAMPIONS	?	2nd	?	DNQ	DNQ
2005	CHAMPIONS	?	3rd	?	DNQ	DNQ
2004	CHAMPIONS	?	7th	?	DNQ	DNQ
2003	CHAMPIONS	?	6th	?	DNQ	DNQ
2002	2nd	?	19th	?	DNQ	DNQ
2001	CHAMPIONS	?	9th	?	DNQ	DNQ
2000	2nd	?	7th	?	DNQ	DNQ
1999	CHAMPIONS	?	6th	?	DNQ	DNQ
1998	CHAMPIONS	?	4th	?	DNQ	DNQ
1997	CHAMPIONS	?	6th	?	DNQ	DNQ
1996	CHAMPIONS	?	?	?	DNQ	DNQ
1995	CHAMPIONS	?	5th	?	DNQ	DNQ
1994	CHAMPIONS	?	CHAMPIONS	48,070	3rd	46,xxx
1993	CHAMPIONS?	?	?	?	DNQ	DNQ
1992	CHAMPIONS?	?	?	?	DNQ	DNQ

Team Rosters

Coaches are in bold.

2008

Honors	Scholastic	Varsity
Adam Brown	John Kim	Norman Bayona, Jr.
Victor Castano	Charles Mercer, IV	Alex Calleros
Megan Cobarruvias	Hannah Swafford	Travis Kirtland

Coaches: Adriano M. Gonzalez, Juliana Sanchez, Sherrie Linsteadt, Vilma Lang, David Alvarado

2007

Honors	Scholastic	Varsity
Redmond-Craig Anderson	Norman Bayona, Jr.	Johnathan (J.D.) Diaz
Megan Cobarruvias	Charles Mercer, IV	?
Jon-Ross Trevino	?	?

Coaches: Adriano M. Gonzalez, Juliana Sanchez, Sherrie Linsteadt, Vilma Lang, David Alvarado

2006

Honors	Scholastic	Varsity
April Rose Ledesma	Norman Bayona, Jr.	Joseph Bayona
Redmond-Craig Anderson	Kort Jackson	Lindsey Francesco
Jon-Ross Trevino	Lessly Espana	Michael Whitaker

Coaches: Adriano M. Gonzalez, Juliana Sanchez, Sherrie Linsteadt, Vilma Lang, David Alvarado

2005

Honors	Scholastic	Varsity
April Rose Ledesma	David Urrabazo, Jr.	James Hall
Vinh Le Huy Nguyen	Norman Bayona, Jr.	Joseph Bayona
Jon-Ross Trevino	Kort Jackson	Daniel Cassel

Coaches: Adriano M. Gonzalez, Juliana Sanchez, Sherrie Linsteadt, Vilma Lang, David Alvarado

2004 State

Honors	Scholastic	Varsity
Kristina McDonald	Minh Tran	James Hall
Shirley Field	David Urrabazo, Jr.	Joseph Bayona
Vinh Le Huy Ngyuen	Charles Kirtland	Kort Jackson*

Coaches: Adriano M. Gonzalez, Juliana Sanchez, Vilma Lang, David Alvarado

* KEJ was a varsity student all three years, but was competing as a scholastic at every meet except the 2004 State Meet.

2004 Regionals

Honors	Scholastic	Varsity
Kristina McDonald	Minh Tran	James Hall
Shirley Field	David Urrabazo, Jr.	Charles Kirtland
Vinh Le Huy Ngyuen	Kort Jackson	Joseph Bayona

Coaches: Adriano M. Gonzalez, Juliana Sanchez, Vilma Lang, David Alvarado

Coaching History

Adriano M. Gonzalez (1985-Present)

June Newton (1984/1985-1986/1987?; 1994/1995-1999/2000)

Sandra Gardner (1987/1988?-1993/1994)

Juliana Sanchez (2000/2001-Present)

Vilma Lang (2002/2003?-Present)

Sherrie Linstedt (2004/2005-2007/2008)

Scores

Year	Score	Rank
2008	44,300	9
2007	43,161	5
2006	44,311	2
2005	44,983	3
2004	43,843	7
2003	45,042	6
2002	42,451	19
2001	40,116	10
2000	47,862	7
1999	-	6
1998	46,779	4
1997	-	6
1996	45,035	9
1995	-	-
1994	46,362	1
1993	42,929	12