To say the least, Eric Steinhauser and I (perhaps the only two people with any residual interest in Decathlon in the circuit) have been watching and monitoring these events. It's as screwed up as you think it is. First of all, there was a calculation error in scoring the tests that was only noticed during the middle of their awards ceremony as they were giving out medals. They suspended the awards ceremony and rescinded ALL medals until they knew that the accounting problem was taken care of. No one really knows what happened though I have my own hunches on the situation, which to date have not been totally dispellled... but again, it's not my bailiwick. Anyway, after a couple of independent auditors and USAD people were flown in to administer the actual scoring certification, the scores were finally posted up and Lubbock HS won the overall state title. However the coach from 2nd place Dobie high school noticed that one of his students was not scored in one of the tests (rather than the WP slant that Dobie was penalized, in fact it was that the student scored a zero which could have accounted for the difference in the final team score). By the time this was discovered, Texas AD had already destroyed all the answer sheets and tests (as per standard instructions from USAD). Anyway, a whole series of litigative motions were placed in Lubbock and Houston as well as Orange County CA. A final decision came down by the Texas SUPREME COURT stating that essentially Texas AD has authority to determine and certify the state champion using its own procedures, and that the courts don't have authority to overturn that (at least to my understanding). This is what happens when thousands of dollars in scholarships are up for grabs as prizes to winning at the state level as well as nationals. Schools from Texas or California have won all of the last 20 USAD national titles and the scholarships offered with it. If you want to follow more on this, check out the Dallas Morning News (www.dallasnews.com) or the Houston Chronicle or Lubbockonline.com . The Los Angeles Times is covering USAD Nationals which concluded this Sunday. /// etc. Still the Ohio Academic Decathlon Assistant State Director who knows all the things I do procedurally to make sure we don't get sued like this.
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