Online Nationals

The top scoring State teams in the small, medium, & large school categories participate in National Online Competitions.  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)

Awards and scholarships are available for online participants nationwide! 

National online competitions are not available to the team advancing to the face-to-face USAD National Competition.

2025 National Online Competition

2024 National Online Competition

Cedar Rapids Kennedy, coached by Ms. Kiley Chihak, represented Iowa in the Large School Online National Competition. No awards were earned.

Cedar Rapids Washington, coached by Ms. Sophie Pionek, represented Iowa in the Medium School Online National Competition. Gabrielle Moffat earned a BRONZE Medal in Mathematics Varsity.

South Central Calhoun, coached by Ms. Marleta Smith, represented Iowa in the Small School Online National Competition. Isabella Sackfield earned a BRONZE Medal in Economics Scholastic.

2023 National Online Competition

Johnston, coached by Ms. Sue Cline, and Urbandale, coached by Ms. Carrie Forristall, both represented Iowa in the Large School Online National Competition. No awards were earned.

Des Moines Hoover, coached by Ms. Megan Kinder Smith, represented Iowa in the Medium School Online National Competition. Awards were earned by Sebastian Schmolck for GOLD in Literature Varsity, BRONZE in Music Varsity, BRONZE in Mathematics Varsity, SILVER in Economics Varsity, GOLD in Essay Varsity, and BRONZE OVERALL for Varsity.

Saydel High School, coached by Ms. Cheryl Smith, represented Iowa in the Small School Online National Competition. Awards were earned by the following students: Crow McDanel earned a BRONZE in Literature Scholastic and Madison Erickson earned  SILVER in Essay Varsity.

2022 National Online Competition

Johnston, coached by Ms. Sue Cline, represented Iowa in the Large School Online National Competition. No awards were earned.

Des Moines Hoover, coached by Ms. Megan Kinder Smith, competed as the Medium School. Hoover student Sebastian Schmolck earned SILVER for Essay and Charles Roff earned SILVER for Mathematics.

South Central Calhoun, coached by Ms. Marleta Smith, competed as the Small School. No awards were earned.

2021 National Online Competition

Large School: Johnston High School was coached by Sue Cline. No individual awards were earned.

Medium School: Mason City High School was coached by Allia Yarrow. No individual awards were earned. 

Small School: Grundy Center-Dike New Hartford was coached by Renee Gingery. Jack Nolder (S) earned a SILVER award in science and a BRONZE award in math.

2020 National Online Competition

Cancelled due to Coronavirus Pandemic.

2019 National Online Competition

Large School: Dowling Catholic, coached by Kasey Tickel, placed 5th in the Large School Division Online. Eleanor Ball (H) earned a BRONZE in Literature.

Medium School: Union, coached by Kerrie Michael, placed 11th in the Medium School Division Online. Libby Sauer (V) earned a SILVER in Art, and Lucian Rockhold (V) earned a SILVER in Literature.

Small School: Grundy Center/Dike New Hartford, coached by Don Osterhaus and Renee Gingery, placed 6th in the Small School Division Online. Alex Christie (H) earned a GOLD in Essay, Joseph Janssen (H) earned a BRONZE in Social Science, and Zachary Delfs (V) earned a GOLD in Essay.

2018 National Online Competition

Large School:  Cedar Rapids Kennedy, coached by Ms. Deb Snook, placed 6th in their Large School Division. Grant Finneman (V) earned a SILVER in Math.

Medium School:  Mason City, coached by Mr. Eric Butikofer and Ms. Allia Yarrow, placed 10th in the Medium School Division. Sarah Dodd (S) and Elise Obermire (V) both earned a GOLD medal in Essay.

Small School:  South Central Calhoun, coached by Mr. John Olson, took 2nd place in the Small School Division. Medals were earned by several SCC students:  Connor Bahr (H) earned a SILVER in Science; Michael Mossman (H) earned a BRONZE in Art; Sam Corey (S) earned a GOLD in Art and a SILVER in Social Science; AJ Maulsby (S) earned a BRONZE in Literature and Music, SILVER in Art and Social Science, and a BRONZE Overall Award for Scholastic; Cara Voorde (S) earned a SILVER in Literature and a BRONZE in Economics; Jacob Stephenson (V) earned GOLD in Science and Economics and BRONZE in Art and Social Science; and Alex Fischer (V) earned BRONZE in Social Science.

2017 National Online Competition

Large School:  Cedar Rapids Kennedy, coached by Deb Snook, participated in the Large School Division of Online Nationals and placed 10th overall with a score of 23,987.8.  No individual awards were earned.

Medium School:  Urbandale participated in the Medium School Division of Online Nationals and placed 13th overall with a score of 18,793.  No individual awards were earned.

Small School:  South Central Calhoun participated in the Small School Division of Online Nationals and placed 2nd overall with a score of 28,732.5.  Individual awards were awarded to Kjersti Olson (H) SILVER Music and BRONZE  Art; Jennifer Mossman (H) BRONZE Music; Jordan Ludwig (S) BRONZE Essay; and Jacob Stephenson (V) BRONZE Literature, SILVER Music, GOLD Science, SILVER Art, GOLD Economics, and BRONZE Social Science.

2016 National Online Competition

Division (II) Medium: Des Moines North High School qualified to participate in the medium school Division II of Academic Decathlon’s Online Nationals. With a score of 20,584.4, they were able to secure 11th in the nation! Varsity student, Rose Wallace-Smith, walked away with three medals: bronze in literature and gold in science & mathematics! Well done, Des Moines North!!!

Division (III) Small: South Central Calhoun had a great year in Academic Decathlon. Due to their strong finish at Iowa’s state competition, they were given the opportunity to represent Iowa in the National Small School Online Competition. Out of 14 other small schools across the nation, they were able to snag 3rd place in Division III with a score of 28,175.3! Along with that honor, South Central Calhoun also gathered numerous individual awards. Honors student, Kjersti Olson, received bronze in music and silver in science. Scholastic student, Deianeira Grage, received silver in both art and social science. Jordan Ludwig, a varsity student, earned a bronze in music. Varsity student, Jacob Stephenson, brought home five individual medals: bronze in music & social science, silver in art, and gold in science and economics! Outstanding job, Southern Central Calhoun!!!

2015 National Online Competition

Division Large: Johnson High placed 6th out of 11 schools in their division of the online competition. Along with their respectable finish, Ethan Niu received gold in mathematics at the scholastic level.

Division Medium: North High Placed 10th out of 14 schools in their division of the online competition.

Division Small: South Central Calhoun placed 5th out of 16 schools in their division of the online competition. Their finish was accompanied with a handful of individual awards. Blake Fonken received bronze in the social science category. R.J. Schneider took bronze in art and social science. Jacob Stephenson came away with 3 medals...silver in science and social science and bronze in economics.

Individual Qualifier: Joseph Tibbs, a Honors member of Iowa Falls-Alden, had the opportunity to compete at the national level this year due to his outstanding personal score from the state competition. Out of all the individual Honors students participating at nationals, Joseph ranked 8th in the nation! He also took gold in the essay and science categories. Congrats!

2014 National Online Competition

Division I: Iowa City West placed 6th out of 12 schools in the online competition. Stephen Bork was the highest scoring individual on the team. He took first place in the honors division for essay. Vikraman Aravamudhan earned third place in the scholastic division for economics and third place for essay. Michael Dlouhy earned third place in the varsity division for economics and third place for mathematics.

Division II: Grundy Center/Dike-New Hartford placed 8th out of 16 schools in the online competition. Dallas Hildebrand was the highest scoring individual on the team. He earned third place in the scholastic division for mathematics. Nicole Weissenfluh earned third place in the honors division for essay.

Division III: Adel-DeSoto-Minburn placed 10th out of 13 schools in the online competition. Benjamin Geadelmann was the highest scoring individual on the team. Sam Freestone earned second place in the varsity division for language and literature and first place for mathematics. Emily Wachendorf placed second in the varsity division in mathematics. Zach Oneal earned third place in the varsity division in mathematics.

2013 National Online Competition

Division I: Iowa City West placed 6th out of 9 schools in the Large School Online Competition. An individual medal went to Ivan Ye for second place in math.

Division II: Des Moines North placed 10th out of 13 schools in the Medium School Online Competition. Individual medals went to Julius Tembe for first place in economics, second place in science, and third place in social science and Clark Reimers for second place in economics.

Division III: South Central Calhoun placed 7th out of 14 schools in the Small School Online Competition. Individual medals went to Kirby Olson for second place in economics and Zach Stewart for first place in language and literature and third place in math!!

Advancing to Nationals

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.