Cyndi Loza

A rivalry spanning nearly 13 years will end Wednesday at the Spanish Springs High School graduation ceremony.

Since kindergarten, straight-A students Alex Fiannaca and Amy Douglas have attended the same schools and were at the top of their class.

They’ve had classes together, helped each other with homework, received awards together and will graduate Wednesday holding the two highest grade-point averages at Spanish Springs High School.

“The two of us, we’re always joking about who’d be valedictorian,” said valedictorian Fiannaca, 18, of Spanish Springs. “I don’t think we thought we’d actually make it.”

The lowest grades Fiannaca ever received in high school were an A-minus and a B. Douglas had only one A minus, but Fiannaca was named valedictorian because he took an extra advanced placement course. Grades from AP courses boost a student’s grade point average.

“We’ve always been in competition,” said salutatorian Douglas, 18, of Spanish Springs. “It made school a lot more fun for me, I’d say. It added some excitement.”

Fiannaca said the pair usually helped each other in subjects both had trouble with.

“She just kills me in English. It’s funny,” Fiannaca joked. “When she heard she was salutatorian, she was like, ‘I’m so happy I’m salutatorian because you get to do the speech and I get to correct it.’”

They both said they plan to keep in touch when Douglas attends the University of Arizona, and Fiannaca attends the University of Nevada, Reno in the fall.

“Don’t worry — we have MySpace,” said Fiannaca, after Douglas said she’ll miss her friends. “We’ll hold strong on MySpace.”

What’s the best part about going to separate schools?

“We both get to be magna cum laudes,” Fiannaca said.