Feb. 23, 2007, 1:13AM
FRIENDSWOOD — Pride and maintaining a winning school tradition are on the line for Friendswood High School's Academic Decathlon team. So is a trip to Hawaii.
The nine are one of many Houston-area teams taking part in state Academic Decathlon contests today and Saturday. The high school team that amasses the most points overall — regardless of school size — will represent Texas at a national contest in Honolulu from April 25 to 28.
After regional meets in January, the 40 large schools with the most points advanced to the state meet, at Cinco Ranch High School in Katy. The top 25 medium schools and 15 small schools will compete at San Antonio College.
Friendswood Coach Daron Scott said his team is preparing as usual by meeting at 7 a.m. every day.
A trip to Hawaii is very appealing to his students, but "our first priority is to be state champions. That's our goal. The Hawaiian prize would be nice, but it's the second thing on our mind."
A team from Friendswood has won the state championship among medium schools 15 years in a row. This year, the team is heading into state with the second highest point total among medium schools with 44,238, just 79 points behind Frisco High School. Centennial High School, also from the Frisco school district, is third among medium schools with 43,508 points.
Among large schools, Plano Senior High is the front-runner with 45,277 points. Not far behind are Lubbock High School and Katy Taylor High School with 44,105 and 43,936 points, respectively.
"There are eight teams within 250 points of each other," said Scott, who teaches chemistry and physics.
The Academic Decathlon is a scholastic high school competition with students judged individually and as teams. This year's Super Quiz, a fast-paced intellectual relay, is based on climatology. Students are quizzed on climate, the historical evidence of past climate variability, factors that control climate, climates on other planets, the greenhouse effect and human contributions to climate change.
The teams are made up of students from varying academic backgrounds. The three varsity members have a C average; the three scholastic members have a B average; and the remaining three, who have top averages, are the honors members.
For Friendswood, preparing for the state meet is a community effort. During scheduled "interview nights" school principals, school board members and other community members interview the students. The same volunteers listen to team members deliver their individual speeches and give them feedback, Scott said.
Team member Julie Rogers said she has stepped up her studying since the regional meet.
"I put in multiple hours of studying each day outside of our assigned reading schedule," she said.
At Katy Taylor High School, Academic Decathlon coaches Bekki George and Jackie Scott, who teach math and calculus, respectively, said their team is continuing their study habits and tackling all subjects.
The team's strategy: "study, study, study."
Beside Katy Taylor, other large Houston-area schools advancing to state include Pearland; Dobie from the Pasadena school district; Clements, Elkins and Austin from the Fort Bend school district; Deer Park; Cinco Ranch and Katy from the Katy school district; Klein and Klein Collins from the Klein school district; Clear Creek from the Clear Creek school district, and Eisenhower from the Aldine school district.
Aside from Friendswood, other medium schools moving on to state from the Houston area include New Caney, Montgomery, Seven Lakes from the Katy school district and Foster from the Lamar Consolidated school district.
Splendora also advanced in the small school division.
ruth.rendon@chron.com
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