The academic decathlon team is looking forward to their newest meet to go to state after their first one failed due to technical difficulties. The team is also hoping for a much smoother event than last time.

The team’s first meet would not be counted due to technical difficulties using the website Zipgrade.

“We already had difficulties using Zipgrade in the past, so it wasn’t that surprising that it struggled at the beginning,” senior Josh Weakland said. “However, once it completely crashed we were all a little surprised.”

Due to the malfunction, it was decided that all tests taken that day would not be counted, and now a new meet has been set for this weekend.

“I think I’m more annoyed with having to retake the tests than anything else,” senior Zariah Soto said. “We know some of them did submit so those could definitely still be scored.”

Although the meet didn’t go as planned, the team still found ways to have fun.

“Even though everything crashed, we still joked around and tried to make light of the situation,” junior Suzette Trujillo said. “We had some good laughs, although hopefully, the next meet goes better.”

The team is now getting ready to compete for a spot at state this weekend, and the coaches are working hard to prepare them.

“We’ve had struggles just as any other sports/teams would and that includes coaches,” head decathlon coach Eric Garcia said. “But we’ve been resilient and I feel as though we’re getting to where we need to be.”

Not only are the coaches working hard, but the decathletes are as well.

“I’ve been preparing hard by going over cram kits and the powerpoints the coaches prepared for us,” Trujillo said. “I don’t believe I’m truly ready, but can you ever really be prepared 100 percent for something like this?”