Tustin’s Foothill High Repeats as Academic Decathlon Champ

Foothill High School in the Tustin Unified School District is the Academic Decathlon champion of Orange County for the second year in a row.

The school’s win in the 1985 contest, held last Saturday, was announced Thursday night at the Academic Decathlon awards banquet at the Disneyland Hotel.

As the reigning champ, Foothill High’s team will represent Orange County in the Jan. 3 state Academic Decathlon on the Rancho Santiago College campus in Santa Ana.

The annual decathlons, which were conceived 17 years ago by William Peterson, Orange County’s superintendent of education, this year attracted 50 high schools in the county competition.

Foothill High swept top overall honors and had five of the top finishers in the individual competition.

Tustin Unified School District also could boast of having the No. 3 team in this year’s competition--Tustin High School.

Los Alamitos High School won the “super quiz” portion of the competition.

Decathlon teams consist of six students from each high school. The rules require that two must be “A” students, two must be “B” students and two must be students whose grade averages are “C” or below.

Peterson was honored Thursday night for his pioneer role with the academic decathlons, which have now spread throughout the nation. He was presented a citation from the California Legislature.

The 10 top high schools in this year’s decathlon are:

(1) Foothill High. (2) Los Alamitos High, Los Alamitos Unified. (3) Tustin High. (4) University High, Irvine Unified. (5) Woodbridge High, Irvine Unified. (6) Dana Hills High, Capistrano Unified. (7) Laguna Hills High, Saddleback Valley Unified. (8) Pacifica High, Garden Grove Unified. (9) Capistrano Valley High, Capistrano Unified. (10) Loara High, Anaheim Union High School District.

The top individual winners were:

Category A: (1) Kent Nordstrom, Los Alamitos High. (2) Jim Wilhelm, Foothill High. (3) Neal Mahutte, Foothill High.

Category B: (1) Anish Bhimani, Foothill High. (2) Pat Carolan, Foothill High. (3) Peter Wilson, Los Alamitos High.

Category C: (1) Larry Green, Foothill High. (2) Taylor Stacey, Tustin High. (3) Malcolm Womack, Los Alamitos High.