The UIL Academic team brought home second place at the AAAA Regional Meet last weekend with a total of 177 points earned and many LCM students will get the opportunity to compete at the State meet on May 23-25 in Austin.

The Number Sense team placed second overall, led by junior Thomas King who placed first. Junior Chris Cook also brought home fourth place in this event. Junior Tyler Regan placed second in Prose and will advance to the State meet.

The Current Issues team placed first, led by sophomore Spencer Johns who won the event for the second year in a row. The rest of the team is made up of junior Matthew Cox, who placed sixth, sophomore Bayleigh Swanton and senior Sam Ross.

The Computer Science team also brought home first place and will advance to State after a long year of practice and dedication, led by sponsor Terry Morris. The team includes Cox, King, junior Tyler Wolfford and senior John Comeaux.

“It is a great feeling,” Morris said of winning first place. “The kids have worked very hard this year. It was awesome that their effort paid off and we were able to beat a very good La Grange team to secure the Regional championship.”

Last year, the Computer Science team won both the District and Regional championships and placed fourth at the State meet, so Morris and his team knew they had a lot to live up to this year.

“After going to State last year and realizing what it would take to be competitive at that level we scheduled summer practices and continued throughout the year,” Morris said. “I told them after finishing fourth last year that we would have to outwork the other teams. I wish I had the experience to tell them to work smart and not hard, however I don’t, so we work hard and learn as we go. They earned this but we still have a lot of work to do to finish strong.”

The General Math team also placed first at the meet and will compete at the State level. The team consists of King, Cook, and seniors Mitchell Lee, Cameron Parker and Tyler McCorvy.

Junior Valen Elliott will compete at the State level for the second year in a row after placing second in News Writing, one of the four journalism categories. She also placed sixth in Feature Writing.

“It makes me really proud, excited, and glad that all of my hard work paid off,” Elliott said.

Elliott said she owes her success to her adviser, journalism teacher Lindsey Fruge.

“By making us do practice stories and grading them, as well as giving us advice, she made sure we were ready for the meet the day of,” she said.

Even though most of the UIL students look up to their sponsors who have coached them throughout the year, Morris said he is continually in awe of the kids on his team.

“I love this team,” he said. “They are resilient and to this point have always answered the challenges before them. I can’t say we will win, but I wouldn’t bet against us.”