Nationals

2024 USAD National Competition

 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

April 25-27, 2024

2023 USAD National Competition Results

2022 National Competition, Virtual

2022 State Champion Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Coached by Kevin Darrow

First Place in Division II at 2022 USAD Nationals

1802 Dawson Posekany earned the SILVER for Mathematics Honor and the BRONZE OVERALL for Honor

1803 Adam Swartzendruber earned the SILVER for Speech Honor, the GOLD for Literature Honor, the SILVER for Music Honor, the BRONZE for Science Honor, the BRONZE for Art Honor, the SILVER for Mathematics Honor, the SILVER for Economics Honor, the BRONZE for Social Science Honor, and the SILVER OVERALL for Honor

1804 Olivia Proctor earned the SILVER for Speech Scholastic, the BRONZE for Literature Scholastic, and the BRONZE for Music Scholastic

1805 Zach Smith earned the SILVER for Literature Scholastic

1806 Danika Burkett earned the GOLD for Literature Scholastic, the GOLD for Music Scholastic, the BRONZE for Art Scholastic, the BRONZE for Economics Scholastic, the BRONZE for Essay Scholastic, the BRONZE for Social Science Scholastic, and SILVER OVERALL for Scholastic

1807 Daniel Binhammer earned the BRONZE for Economics Varsity, the SILVER for Interview Varsity

1809 Brianna Olson earned the BRONZE for Speech Varsity, the BRONZE for Music Varsity, the  GOLD for Mathematics Varsity, the SILVER for Economics Varsity, the GOLD for Interview Varsity, and the BRONZE OVERALL for Varsity

2022 Division IV Wildcard at USAD Nationals - Union at La Porte City,  Coached by Kerrie Michael

7701 Caitlyn Wylie earned the GOLD for Speech Honor

7703 Adam Brehm earned the BRONZE for Science Honor

7704 Asher Beermann earned the SILVER for Interview Scholastic

2021 National Competition, Virtual

Students on our 2021 State Champion Team, Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School, earned several medals: Ewan Greear BRONZE Division I Art Scholastic; Samuel Jahnke (S) BRONZE Social Science; Brian Lu (S) BRONZE Literature and BRONZE Social Science; Justin Cano (V) BRONZE Interview; and Brianna Olson (V) GOLD Interview. CR Jefferson is coached by Mr. Kevin Darrow.

South Central Calhoun High School represented Iowa as our Division IV Team. Students earning medals were A.J. Maulsby (H) BRONZE Economics and BRONZE Social Science; Michael Mossman (S) GOLD Literature, BRONZE Music, GOLD Art, SILVER Economics, GOLD Essay, SILVER Speech, and SILVER OVERALL for Scholastic; and Parker Pagel (V) SILVER Social Science and SILVER Interview.

2020 National Competition in Anchorage, Alaska

Cancelled due to Coronavirus Pandemic

2019 National Competition in Bloomington, Minnesota

Our State Championship Team, Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School, and coach Kevin Darrow had tremendous results at this year's national competition taking 2nd Place in Division II and 2nd Place in the culminating Super Quiz competition! Earning individual awards were Emma Lassen (H) GOLD Interview; Chiara Affatigato (H) SILVER Art; Caroline Winter (H) BRONZE Economics, SILVER Music, BRONZE Literature, BRONZE Art, and SILVER OVERALL; Karlee Colby (S) GOLD Literature, SILVER Art, and BRONZE OVERALL; Elizabeth Buchheim (S) BRONZE Science; Daniel Daugherty (S) BRONZE Social Science and BRONZE Science; Logan Hannen (V) BRONZE Economics, SILVER Social Science, GOLD Science, GOLD Speech, and BRONZE Interview; Mackenzie Varo (V) SILVER Literature, BRONZE Art, and SILVER Speech; Elias Etten (V) GOLD Music, BRONZE Social Science, GOLD Science, SILVER Art Varsity, SILVER OVERALL 

Our Division IV Team, South Central Calhoun High School, and coach John Olson had a great time in Minnesota as well taking 7th Place in Division IV. Earning individual medals were AJ Maulsby (S) with a SILVER in Economics, a BRONZE in Music, and a BRONZE in  Science and Zach Chanchom (V) with a SILVER in Music

2018 National Competition in Frisco, Texas

The 2018 State Championship team from Cedar Rapids Jefferson represented Iowa at the USAD National Competition in Frisco, Texas on April 19-21, 2018, taking 6th place in Division I. Earning individual awards for the team were Chiara Affitagato (H) with a SILVER in Music and a BRONZE in Art, Sophia Pionek (S) with a BRONZE in Art, Haley Varo (S) with a GOLD in Interview, and Clara Heathman (V) with BRONZE in Social Science and Art and GOLD in Speech.

In addition to the championship team, each state was allowed to send a Wildcard Team to compete in a Division IV.  The IAD Board decided to send the top scoring team in the opposite size division. This team chose to compete online, so the honor of traveling to Frisco went to Union High School from La Porte City. Although they took no awards, the team had a great time experiencing the National Competition for the first time.

Individuals: Noah Boquet (V) of Grundy Center High School traveled to Nationals in Frisco and earned two medals, a BRONZE in Economics and a SILVER in Math.

2017 National Competition in Madison, Wisconsin

Kevin Darrow and his team from Cedar Rapids Jefferson once again represented Iowa at the national competition.  They competed in Division I, which was much more competitive than Division II during previous years, and placed 6th. Five individual medals were earned by team members:  Mason Koelm (H) earned BRONZE in Interview, Abby Frerick (S) earned BRONZE in Art, Elizabeth Thompson (S) earned GOLD in Essay, Rhett Thompson (V) earned SILVER in Interview, and Chase Hannen (V) earned GOLD in Essay. 

Individuals:  For the first time in Iowa history, four students from Grundy Center/Dike-New Hartford participated as individuals in Division III at the national competition in Madison, Wisconsin.  Tiana Saak (H) earned a BRONZE in Art, Noah Boquet (V) earned a SILVER in Science and a BRONZE in Math.  Also competing were Dylan Hendricks (H) and Eli Harberts (S).  

2016 National Competition in Anchorage, Alaska

Representing Iowa in Anchorage, Alaska, at the United States Academic Decathlon National competition was Cedar Rapids Jefferson, coached by Kevin Darrow. Competing in Division II and boasting an impressive score of 45,144.7 points, they came back to the state with a 3rd place finish! They were 2,000 points behind from earning 1st place from Wisconsin and only a mere 300 points behind Rhode Island. With that strong of a finish, almost every team member walked away with individuals medals. In fact, the team brought home 23 individual medals! The medal winners: Connor Hammons (H) GOLD Interview; Sarah Steinke (H) SILVER Economics, SILVER Music, SILVER Social Science, GOLD Literature; Chase Hannen (S) GOLD Interview, SILVER Essay; Luke Hummell (S) GOLD Speech; Abbigail Frerick (S) BRONZE Music, BRONZE Social Science, SILVER Art; Christian Anton (V) GOLD Economics, BRONZE Social Science, BRONZE Literature; Sienna Belcher (V) BRONZE Interview, BRONZE Speech, BRONZE Essay; and Stephanie Ray (V) BRONZE Mathematics, GOLD Literature, GOLD Speech.

2015 National Competition in Los Angeles, California

Cedar Rapids Jefferson, coached by Kevin Darrow, placed 3rd in Division II with a team score of 42,694.20!!! In addition to that astonishing accomplishment, the team came away with numerous individual awards. Tommy Waltmann received the bronze medal in art and economics. Cora Lassen scored bronze in music and speech. Gina Buelow took gold in interview and bronze in literature. Chase Muenzenmeyer received medals in 7 categories; bronze in literature, music, mathematics, economics, and interview and silver in science and art. There were still enough medals in the varsity level for Logan Thompson to take silver in mathematics and interview and bronze in social science. Outstanding job representing Iowa at the national level!  

2014 National Competition in Honolulu, Hawaii

Cedar Rapids Jefferson, coached by Kevin Darrow, placed 4th in Division II !!!  This is a tremendous accomplishment! Quinn McIlvanie earned the second highest score overall in the varsity division.  He earned second place in the varsity division for art, third place for economics, first place for interview, first place for music.  Hashim Osman earned third place in the scholastic division for economics.  Chase Muenzenmeyer earned first place in social science.  In addition to these awards, the team also earned third place in the Oral Super Quiz!  Way to go, Jefferson!!!!!  :)

South Central Calhoun, coached by John Olson, placed 10th in Division III.  They didn't earn any medals or place in the Oral Super Quiz, but their scores were respectable and they had a great time!  :)

2013 National Competition in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Cedar Rapids Jefferson placed 17th out of 53 teams at National Academic Decathlon.  No individual medals were earned.  

Cedar Rapids Kennedy placed 33rd out of 53 teams at National Academic Decathlon in Minneapolis.  No individual medals were earned.

For National Competition, we send the highest scoring team, our State Champion, from our State Competition.  If it is a large school, then the highest scoring small school is our Division IV.  If it is a small school, the highest scoring large school would be our Division IV. Division IV is a wildcard division that allows us to send a second school to the National Competition.

For online nationals, we recognize the medium size schools with populations up to 1300. We send our highest scoring small school, up to 650, to the small school competition. We send our highest scoring small or medium, up to 1300 to the medium school competition. We send our highest scoring large, above 1300, to the large school competition. These exclude the highest scoring teams who are invited to attend the national competition in person.

School enrollment of competing online school must be: large = not to exceed 10,000; medium = not to exceed 1,300; small = not to exceed 650 (grades 9–12). Enrollment for the scrimmage, Regional Competition, and State Competition is based on prior year reporting through the Iowa Department of Education. For schools advancing to any of the National Competitions, face-to-face or online, enrollment is based on the enrollment from December 1 of the previous year.

Qualifications for USAD National Competitions will continue to be dependent on USAD Guidelines and Requirements.