07:24 AM CST on Tuesday, February 28, 2006

By Leslie Contreras / Galveston County Daily News

FRIENDSWOOD — The academic decathlon team for Friendswood Independent School District won its 14th consecutive state championship during the weekend.

The team scored 44,668 points — the highest score out of 22 schools in its division.

Despite the state title, the Friendswood team won’t be headed to the national competition. That honor was reserved for Plano Senior High School, which was the winner of the large-size school division and earned the highest score of all schools with 46,554 points.

Friendswood High competed in the medium school division.

Kieran Fitzgerald was the top-scoring student in the state contest for Friendswood, said Karolyn Gephart, spokeswoman for the district. Andy Feith was the fourth-place student in the A category, and Richard Arduengo and Chris Burchsted were second and third in the B student category. Sarah Stapp was the top C student in the state.

Additional team members for the 2006 team were Chris Compton, Joseph Welsh, Ayman Haq and John Bohannon. The sponsors were Daron Scott and Michael Wells.

The team earned 55 medals in the regional competition. The event consists of 10 events in academic subjects, including art history, classical music, economics, mathematics and science.